But Venezuela is just one of the many Latin American countries that China is courting. The region presents an attractive investment proposition for China because of its resources and markets, Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America Program at the U.S.-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue, told CNBC. "In Latin America, China's looking for soy, above all, to address what is a fairly critical food security challenge at home. " Ruben Gonzalez Vicente from the University of Birmingham said: "From 2000 to 2010, most Chinese investment in Latin America went into the extractive industries, into mining and oil in South America mostly. Watch the video to find out why China has its eye on Latin America.

---

Persons: Xi Jinping, Nicolás Maduro, Margaret Myers, Myers, Ruben Gonzalez Vicente, Roberto Garcia Moritan, It's, it's Organizations: Venezuelan, America, Inter, CNBC, University of Birmingham Locations: China, Venezuela, Latin America, Asia, U.S, America, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Latin, South America, Beijing