The Barack Obama administration and US media have made much ado about the "pivot" to Asia policy of Washington. What has largely escaped their attention, however, is that China has been lining up economic allies in the erstwhile "backyard" of the US.

Just as serious competition ought to awaken one's creative juices in business, it is time the US devised a suitable economic policy for Latin America.

The difference in the approaches of the US and China to Latin America and the Caribbean became all the more evident when US Vice-President Joseph Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the region.