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Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a welcome ceremony held for him by his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Brazil, July 17, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ever since the 1823 declaration of the Monroe Doctrine, U.S. politicians habitually refer to all countries south of the Rio Grande as "America's backyard."

Latin Americans frown at the tag. Language wonks point at the fact that although in the United States "backyard" has a friendly connotation, in Spanish America it means "corral," the part of a house for keeping chickens and planting banana trees.

The treachery of translation aside, the term has also become obsolete in its intended sense. As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged in November -- half a year after he had stirred up strong protest in Latin America by citing the analogy, the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.

As a matter of fact, Kerry's statement was just a belated recognition of an already profoundly changed regional landscape. Latin American countries have outgrown the so-called U.S. sphere of influence and become equal players on the world stage.

In parallel, the 33 countries -- rich in resources, adamant on development and committed to integration -- have embarked upon a path of steady growth and global cooperation that promises a Latin American century.

It is under such paradigm-shifting circumstances that China-Latin America relations have been galloping forward on the fast track. The two-way trade reached a record high of 261.57 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, and UN figures show that China will overtake the European Union as the region's second largest trading partner in 2016.

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