/Avdelning Kina på frammarch/
| China and Latin American states seize opportunities to strengthen all-round cooperation | ||
| By Ding Ying | ||
Now distance is no longer a problem. China and Latin America, which are far away from each other, are rapidly developing their relationship and enhancing cooperation. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent visit to the region sent a signal that Sino-Latin American relations will develop by leaps and bounds in the coming years. Observers told Beijing Review that seizing strategic development opportunities, China and Latin American nations will give each other a bright future.
Agreements
The Chinese premier conducted a tour in late
June to four Latin American states, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. During
his visit, China and the four countries reached consensus on fully developing
their relationships by boosting mutual trust, trade and economic cooperation and
people-to-people exchanges.
Yang Shouguo, Deputy Director of the Institute
of Latin American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International
Relations, said it was Wen's first trip to these countries. "The premier's visit
strengthened China's all-round cooperation with these countries," he said. By
increasing political mutual trust, China and the four countries have cemented a
solid basis for other cooperation, he added.
China and Brazil announced on June 22 they
agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in a
major step to advance their cooperation. They also decided to set up a
comprehensive strategic dialogue mechanism between their foreign ministers and
signed a 10-year cooperation plan.
China and Chile announced in a joint statement
on June 26 they will elevate their comprehensive cooperative partnership
established in 2004 to a strategic partnership. Their bilateral cooperation will
be actively promoted via current dialogue mechanisms such as informal
consultations on human rights and judicial issues.
In a joint statement issued on June 25 in Buenos
Aires, China and Argentina agreed to initiate the formulation of a mutual action
plan to guide and coordinate bilateral cooperation in the next five years. The
two sides agreed to intensify high-level contact and communication and boost
exchanges and cooperation between their governments, legislatures and political
parties, in order to consolidate political and strategic mutual trust.
According to the joint statement, China backs
Argentina's claim to sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, called the Falkland
Islands by Britain, and calls for a peaceful settlement of the Argentina-Britain
dispute via negotiations in line with related UN resolutions. Argentina firmly
adheres to the one-China policy and supports the peaceful development of
relations across the Taiwan Straits and China's peaceful reunification. These
pledges show high strategic mutual trust between the two countries.
China and Uruguay pledged during Wen's visit to
foster their trade ties and step up exchanges between the two nations'
legislative bodies. In a speech at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America
(ECLAC) and the Caribbean on June 26 in Santiago, Wen proposed the establishment
of a China-Latin America cooperation forum in order to elevate the platform for
comprehensive cooperation.
"Considering the rapid development of China's
cooperation with Latin America, now it's time to upgrade China's relationship
with these countries," said Yang Shouguo. For instance, he said, China and
Brazil now have a cooperative relationship between two big nations, not just a
common bilateral relationship. Such a relationship requires all-round
cooperation instead of simple trade and economic relations.
Yang Jianmin, a researcher with the Institute of
Latin-American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Wen's
visit showed China's confidence on future cooperation with these countries.
"Premier Wen brought operable and constructive plans to Latin America," he
said.
In his ECLAC speech, Wen called for expanding
common interests of China and Latin America, taking economic and trade
cooperation as priority. He said China and Latin American countries should
strive toward the goal of increasing trade to $400 billion in five years.In terms of financial cooperation, the central banks of China and Brazil signed a currency swap deal worth 60 billion reals or 190 billion yuan ($30 billion). In his speech at the ECLAC, Wen said Chinese financial institutions will allocate $5 billion to launch a China-Latin America cooperation fund for joint investment in cooperation projects in manufacturing, high and new technology and sustainable development. The Chinese side will also initiate a $10-billion special loan to support infrastructure cooperation between the two sides, Wen said, adding that China is ready to discuss and sign currency swap agreements with more Latin American countries. Yang Jianmin said the agreements indicate China's cooperation quality with these countries is on rise. In the past, China's trade with Latin American countries involved mostly resource imports. Now the trade range is greatly extended. For example, China and Argentina pledged to enhance cooperation in food, culture, education, science and technology, tourism and law enforcement as well as in solar, nuclear and other forms of energy. China and Chile agreed to further advance cooperation in areas such as trade, mining, agriculture, science and technology, renewable energy, the service industry, education and forestry. Wen also said China is willing to set up research and development centers for agricultural technology, demonstration industrial parks for farm product processing and development zones for agricultural investment in Latin America.
Potential
Chinese analysts are confident about future
cooperation between China and Latin American countries.Yang Shouguo said China and Latin American countries have formed a complementary trade and economic relationship. China is undergoing economic transformation, while Latin American countries are conducting economic reforms. The reforms will not block the complementary relationship between them, but will extend the range of their cooperation, he said.
Yang Shouguo said agricultural cooperation,
including trade in agricultural products and agricultural technologies and
equipment, between China and Latin American countries is promising. "China is a
populous country. Latin American countries have rich experiences in growing
plants and raising livestock," he said.
"Now is an unprecedented historical opportunity
for China and Latin-American countries to develop their relations, especially
their trade and economic cooperation. And they all know this," stressed Yang
Jianmin. He explained that the countries Wen visited are among the most
developed in Latin America. They are economically energetic and have resisted
the global financial crisis.Yang Jianmin said developing trade and economic cooperation with China is a good way for these countries to realize their own development. A UN unit on Sino-Latin American studies released a report recently, according to which, Latin American countries must develop their economic cooperation with Asian countries, especially China, so as not to miss out on China's rapid development.
"It is predictable that the next five to 10
years will witness the rapid development of the Sino-Latin American
relationship," Yang Jianmin said. He was confident that China and Latin America
will accomplish the goal of boosting their trade volume to $400 billion in the
near future. In 2001, the Sino-Latin American trade volume was only $14.9
billion. In 2007, the number climbed to $100 billion, and in 2011, $241.5
billion. "The trade volume should continue an annual 30-percent increase in next
five years," he said.
Yang Jianmin pointed out that the potential in
investment is even bigger. China's investment to Latin America was too small to
count before 2010. However, in 2010, China's annual foreign direct investment to
the area soared to $15.3 billion, exceeding the sum of past 10 years. By the end
of 2011, China's investment to Latin America had reached $70 billion.
China's
Pledges
-
Raising Sino-Latin American trade to $400 billion in five
years- Allocating $5 billion to launch a China-Latin America cooperation fund - Initiating a $10-billion special loan to support Sino-Latin American infrastructure cooperation |
