CHILE
Republic of Chile
Repúblic de Chile
GENERAL
- Area:
- 756,000 km2.
- Population:
- 13,810,000 (1993).
- Capital:
- Santiago.
- Ethnic composition:
- Spanish (75%), other Europeans (20%), American Indian
(5%).
- Major languages:
- Spanish.
- Major religions:
- Roman Catholic (88%).
- History:
- Colonized by Spain, the Republic of Chile eventually
overthrew the Spanish forces and proclaimed its
independence in 1818. In 1970 Salvador Allende Gossens, a
Marxist, was elected president, but he died in a 1973
coup détat, and Army Chief of Staff Augusto Pinochet
Ugarte took over. In 1980 the nation voted to adopt a new
constitution, and it came into force the next year.
Following a national vote of no confidence in the
Pinochet regime in 1988, elections for legislators and
the president were held in 1989, and Patricio Aylwin
Azócar became president in 1990. In the next
presidential election Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle was
triumphant, and he took office in 1994.
GOVERNMENT
- Type:
- Republic.
- Head of state:
- President: Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle.
- Legislature:
- The bicameral National Congress encompasses a Senate and
a Chamber of Deputies. The Senate consists of 46 members
elected to eight-year terms, the Chamber of Deputies 120
members elected to four-year terms.
- Executive:
- José Miguel Insulza is foreign minister.
- Domestic politics:
- After General Pinochet's military regime suffered
defeat in the October 1988 plebiscite by a vote of 54% no
confidence, 43% confidence, the antimilitary alliance
Concertación de los Partidos por la Democracia
(Coalition of Parties for Democracy, CPD) staged a
successful campaign for Patricio Aylwin Azócar in the
December 1989 presidential election. The new president
promulgated a law to compensate victims of human-rights
violations, and his administration focused on social
policy and tax reforms, implementing infrastructure
investments amounting to $2.4 billion. Aylwin was
replaced by Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle in another CPD
government in March 1994, and it is striving to help
impoverished people and the socially weak, improve
administrative efficiency, and root out corruption. By
and large Chile has made good progress toward fostering
democracy, but attention has recently focused on the
compromises made during the transition to civilian rule,
such as the fact that the constitution does not grant the
president authority over appointments to chief of staff
of the four military branches, of which the national
police is one. In April 1994 President Frei called for
General Rodolfo Strange, national chief of police, to
resign for obstructing justice in a trial stemming from
the murder of communist professionals in 1985, but
Strange refused to step down. In August 1994 the
administration put a number of constitutional amendments
before the Chamber of Deputies covering electoral reform,
the nonelective appointment of senators, and the
implementation of plebiscites by presidential decree, but
it is not seeking to restore presidential authority over
the appointment of military chiefs of staff.
- Foreign policy:
- The Frei administration is pursuing an active foreign
policy targeted at globalizing the Chilean economy and,
in the Latin American region, developing stable
relations, maintaining peace, and fostering democracy.
The country has formulated a diversified economic policy,
and while it focuses on Latin America and the United
States because of the need to secure export markets, it
gives consideration to relations with Asia and Europe. At
the 1994 Summit of the Americas Chile announced its
formal decision on the application for participation in
the North American Free-Trade Agreement. It is also
negotiating with the Mercosur group of South American
countries to create a free-trade area. As part of its
endeavor to build closer ties with the Asia-Pacific
region, Chile in November 1994 formally joined APEC.
- Military:
- Defense budget, $1,149 million (1994); regular armed
forces (conscript, serving a two-year term) consist of
54,000 members of the army, 25,000 members of the navy,
and 12,800 members of the air force on active duty.
ECONOMY
- Major industries:
- Mining, commerce, agriculture, farm-product processing.
- GDP:
- $37.1 billion (1992).
- Per capita GDP:
- $3,070 (1993).
- Real growth rate:
- 4.3% (1994).
- Inflation:
- 9.0% (Dec. 1994).
- Unemployment:
- 5.9% (Nov. 1994).
- Trade: Exports:
- $11.6 billion; imports: $10.9 billion (1994).
- Principal items traded:
- Exports: copper, farm products, fish meal, pulp, wood
products; imports: intermediate goods, capital goods,
consumer goods.
- Principal trading partners:
- Exports: Japan, United States, Argentina, Brazil,
Republic of Korea; imports: United States, Japan, Brazil,
Argentina, Germany.
- Currency:
- Peso. US$1=415 pesos (Feb. 28, 1995).
- Economic conditions:
- The Chilean economy is estimated to have grown at a rate
somewhat above 4% in 1994 thanks to brisk exports boosted
by rising prices for copper and other items. The
inflation rate appears to have fallen to 9%, the first
single-digit level since 1981. Foreign investment in
Chile remains buoyant as a result of the country's
political and economic stability. The Chilean peso's
exchange rate with the dollar is held within a range of
10% above or below an official rate set each month; at
the end of November 1994 the Central Bank of Chile hiked
the official rate by about 10% from 462 pesos to the
dollar to 418.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
- Japan's aid: Loans:
- 29,992 million yen; grants: 5,892 million yen; technical
cooperation: 18,299 million yen (cumulative ODA total
through fiscal 1993).
- Principal donors:
- Japan (29%), Germany (15%), Italy (12%), Spain (11%),
United States (8%) (1990-93).
BILATERAL RELATIONS
- Political:
- Japan and Chile established diplomatic relations in
November 1906. The two countries have forged friendly
relations centered on economic exchange. In November 1992
President Aylwin became the first Chilean president to
visit Japan. President Frei made a visit in November
1994. The two countries are steadily developing a
wide-ranging relationship.
- Trade:
- Exports to Japan: $1,876 million, featuring copper, iron
ore, lumber; imports from Japan: $959 million, featuring
machinery, equipment, steel products (1992).
- Investment:
- Japanese direct investment in Chile amounted to $20
million in 1994 (provisional).
- Cultural:
- Through fiscal 1994 Japan has provided Chile with 14
cultural grants worth 584 million yen.
- Japanese residing in Chile:
- 812 (including 506 long-term residents); about 2,000
Japanese-Chileans reside in the country (Oct. 1992).
- Chileans residing in Japan:
- 345 (Jan. 1993).
- Visits by eminent persons:
- Japan to Chile: Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi (1959),
Foreign Minister Sunao Sonoda (1979), International Trade
and Industry Minister Rokusuke Tanaka (1981), House of
Councillors member Kaname Endo (1990), former Prime
Minister Toshiki Kaifu (1992), Prince and Princess
Hitachi (1993), Japan-Chile Parliamentary Friendship
League Chairman Taro Nakayama (1994), House of
Representatives member Shusei Tanaka (1994);
Chile to Japan: Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Enrique Escobal (1985), Finance Minister Hernan Buche (1985, 1987, 1988), Economy, Promotion, and Reconstruction Minister Manuel Concha (1987), External Relations Minister Hernan Felipe Errazuriz (1989, Showa emperor's funeral), Finance Minister Enrique Seguel (1989), Economy, Promotion, and Reconstruction Minister Pedro Larrondo (1989), Economy, Promotion, and Reconstruction Minister Carlos Ominami Pascual (1990), External Relations Minister Enrique Silva Cimma (1990, imperial accession ceremonies), Mining Minister Juan Hamilton Depassier (1991), President Patricio Aylwin Azócar (1992, accompanied by External Relations Minister Enrique Silva Cimma, Finance Minister Alejandro Foxley Rioseco, and Agriculture Minister Juan Agustin Figueroa), External Relations Minister Enrique Silva Cimma (1993), Secretary General of the Presidency Edgardo Boeninger Kausel (1993), former President Patricio Alywin Azócar (1994), President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994, accompanied by External Relations Minister José Miguel Insulza and Economy, Promotion, and Reconstruction Minister Alvaro Garcio Hurtado). - Treaties and agreements:
- Arrangement Between the Government of Japan and the
Government of Chile Concerning Reciprocal Waiving of
Passport Visas (1969), Agreement Between the Government
of Japan and the Government of the Republic of Chile on
Technical Cooperation (1978).
(March 1995)
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