Since its return to democracy in 1990, Chile has been an active participant in the regional and international arena.Schenoni, Luis (2017) "Subsystemic Unipolarities?" in Strategic Analysis, 41(1): 74–86 Chile assumed a two-year non-permanent position on the UN Security Council in January 2003 and was re-elected to the council in October 2013. It is also an active member of the UN family of agencies, serving as a member of the Commission on Human Rights and participating in UN peacekeeping activities. Chile hosted the second Summit of the Americas in 1998, was the chair of the Rio Group in 2001, hosted the Defense Ministerial of the Americas in 2002, and the APEC summit and related meetings in 2004. In 2005 it hosted the Community of Democracies ministerial conference. It is an associate member of Mercosur and a full member of APEC. The OECD agreed to invite Chile to be among four countries to open discussions in becoming an official member.
Diplomatic relations List of countries which Chile maintains diplomatic relations with: #CountryDate12345678910111213141516171819202122—2324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960—616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177—178179180—181—182
Bilateral relations Africa Country Formal Relations BeganNotesSeptember 1975See Chile–Kenya relations20 May 1971See Chile–Libya relations1976
Americas Country Formal Relations BeganNotes30 January 1827See Argentina–Chile relations
Chile and Argentina were close allies during the wars of independence against Spain. Argentine General José de San Martín crossed the Andes with Chilean independence hero Bernardo O'Higgins and together they defeated the Spaniards. However, after independence, relations soured. This was primarily due to a border dispute: both nations claimed the totality of the Patagonia region.
Attempts to clear up the dispute were unsuccessful until 1881, when Chile was at war with both Bolivia and Peru. In order to avoid fighting Argentina as well, Chilean President Aníbal Pinto authorized his envoy, Diego Barros Arana to hand over as much territory as was needed to avoid Argentina siding with Bolivia and Peru. Barros succeeded in his mission: Argentina was granted east Patagonia and Chile the Strait of Magellan.
However, border disputes continued. In 1902, war was again avoided when British King Edward VII agreed to mediate between the two nations. He established the current border in the Patagonia region.
The Beagle conflict began to brew in the 1960s, when Argentina began to claim that the Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands in the Beagle Channel were rightfully hers. In 1971 Chile and Argentina signed an agreement formally submitting the Beagle Channel issue to binding Beagle Channel Arbitration. On May 2, 1977, the court ruled that the islands and all adjacent formations belonged to Chile. See the Report and decision of the Court of Arbitration.
On 25 January 1978, the Argentina military junta led by General Jorge Videla declared the award fundamentally null and intensified their claim over the islands. On 22. December 1978, Argentina startedSee Argentine newspaper Clarín of Buenos Aires, 20 December 1998 the Operation Soberanía over the disputed islands, but the invasion was halted due to:See Alejandro Luis Corbacho "Predicting the probability of war during brinkmanship crisis: The Beagle and the Malvinas conflicts" https://ssrn.com/abstract=1016843 (p.45) The newspaper Clarín explained some years later that such caution was based, in part, on military concerns. In order to achieve a victory, certain objectives had to be reached before the seventh day after the attack. Some military leaders considered this not enough time due to the difficulty involved in transportation through the passes over the Andean Mountains. and in cite 46: According to Clarín, two consequences were feared. First, those who were dubious feared a possible regionalization of the conflict. Second, as a consequence, the conflict could acquire great power proportions. In the first case decisionmakers speculated that Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Brazil might intervene. Then the great powers could take sides. In this case, the resolution of the conflict would depend not on the combatants, but on the countries that supplied the weapons.
In December that year, moments before Videla signed a declaration of war against Chile, Pope John Paul II agreed to mediate between the two nations. The Pope's envoy, Antonio Samorè, successfully averted war and proposed a new definitive boundary in which the three disputed islands would remain Chilean. Chile immediately accepted this decision, but Argentina still disliked and avoided acceptance until after the lost Falklands War in 1982. Both agreed to Samoré's proposal and signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina, ending that dispute.
In the 1990s, under presidents Frei and Menem both countries solved almost all of the remaining border disputes during bilateral talks. They also agreed to submit Laguna del Desierto to international arbitration in 1994. Almost the entire disputed area was awarded to Argentina.
The last border dispute are . in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field from Mount Fitz Roy to Mount Daudet that is still officially undefined. In August 2006, however, a tourist map was published in Argentina placing the disputed region within the borders of that country. Chile filed an official complaint, sparking renewed efforts to settle the dispute which the Argentine government supports and urged Chile to finish quick as possible the demarcation of the international border.3 October 1967Barbados is accredited in Chile through its embassy in Caracas (Venezuela). Chile is accredited to Barbados from its embassy in Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) and maintains an honorary consulate in Bridgetown. Barbados and Chile formally established diplomatic relations on 3 October 1967. Chile was the first Latin American country with which Barbados formally established formal diplomatic relations.Barbados' Prime Minister to Pay an Official Visit to the Republic of Chile, Barbados Government Information Service, 3 November 2005 Both countries raised the agenda of rekindling ties in 2005 as a precursor to the attempted Free Trade Area of the Americas trade bloc. At current both blocs have discussed the introduction of a free trade agreement and more specifically Chile and CARICOM have specifically noted the possibility of establishing a free trade agreement.
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos visited Barbados on February 20–21, 2005Chilean President to Visit Barbados , Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Barbados), Press Release dated 12 February 2005 In May 2009, Prime Minister David Thompson outlined his plan to further Barbadian relations in the Americas. As part of his outline he named Chile as one of three countries which he desired his government would further enhance relations with in South America.Barbados Hoping To Expand Relations, Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), 8 May 2009 In August 2017 President Bachelet visited Barbados and met with her Barbadian counterpart to discuss mutual areas of cooperation.Barbados and Chile to strengthen relationship , Barbados Daily Nation, Added 24 August 2017 Barbados is accredited to Chile from its embassy in Brasília, Brazil.20 April 1873See Bolivia–Chile relations
Relations with Bolivia have been strained ever since the independence wars because of the Atacama border dispute (Bolivia claims a corridor to the Pacific Ocean). The Spaniards never bothered to definitively establish a border between Chile and Bolivia. Chile claimed its limit with Peru ran through the Loa River and that Bolivia was therefore landlocked, while Bolivia claimed it did have a coast and that the limit with Chile ran along the Salado River. The border remained vague throughout the 19th century. Finally, Bolivia and Chile agreed, in 1866, to allow Bolivia access to the Pacific and that the limit of the two countries would run along the 24th parallel. The area between the 25th and 23rd parallel would remain demilitarized and both nations would be allowed to mine there.
However, in 1879, Bolivian dictator General Hilarión Daza increased the taxes on the exportation of saltpeter, violating the 1866 treaty. When Chilean-owned saltpeter companies protested, Daza expropriated their companies and sold them in a public auction. Daza then put an end to all commerce with Chile and exiled all Chilean residents in Bolivia (the Bolivian port of Antofagasta had more Chileans than Bolivians). In response, Chile declared war on Bolivia and occupied Bolivia's coast. Peru had, in 1873, signed a secret pact with Bolivia in which the two countries agreed to fight together against any nation that threatened either of them. When Peru refused to be neutral in the conflict between Chile and Bolivia, Chile declared war on Peru. Chile defeated both countries and annexed the coast claimed by Bolivia. This was ratified in a 1904 treaty.22 April 1836See Brazil–Chile relations
Chile and Brazil have acted numerous times as mediators in international conflicts, such as in the 1914 diplomatic impasse between the United States and Mexico, avoiding a possible state of war between those two countries. More recently, since the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, Chile and Brazil have actively participated in the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, which is led by the Brazilian Army. They are also two of the three most important economies in South America along with Argentina. Brazil has an embassy in Santiago. Chile has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.28 August 1941See Canada–Chile relations
Since 1997 Canada and Chile's trade relations have been governed by the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement, Chile's first full free trade agreement and Canada's first with a Latin American nation.Parraguez, Maria-Luisa. "Chile's Foreign Policy towards North America". Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ISA's 49th ANNUAL CONVENTION, BRIDGING MULTIPLE DIVIDES, Hilton San Francisco, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA (26 March 2008) Canada has an embassy in Santiago. Chile has an embassy in Ottawa and consulates-general in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.28 August 1822See Chile-Colombia relations19 October 1903See Chile–Cuba relations1938See Chile–Dominican Republic relations1836See Chile–Ecuador relations
After the War of the Pacific (1879–83) pursued a policy of promoting friendly relationships between countries with disputes with Chile's neighbors. In doing so Chile made attempts to establish friendly relationships between Ecuador and Colombia, both were countries that had serious territorial disputes with Peru in the Amazon. Military cooperation with Ecuador grew considerably after the War of the Pacific with Chile sending instructors to the military academy in Quito and selling superfluous arms and munitions to Ecuador.Burr, Robert N. 1955. The Balance of Power in Nineteenth-Century South America: An Exploratory Essay. The Hispanic American Historical Review. Despite Chile's over-all good relations with Ecuador both countries had a minor diplomatic crisis resulting from the capture of the Peruvian torpedo boat Alay in Ecuadorian territorial waters during the war.
Chile together with the other ABC Powers and the USA were among the guarantors of the Rio Protocol that followed the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War in 1942. Chile has an embassy in Quito and a consulate-general in Guayaquil. Ecuador has an embassy in Santiago.7 June 1943See Chile–Haiti relations7 March 1831See Chile–Mexico relations