54% OF ARGENTINES WOULD PRIORITISE RELATIONS WITH BEIJING OVER WASHINGTON
New survey by Argentina Project and Poliarquía reveals vast levels of support for relations with China – and that 54 percent would prioritise relations with Beijing over Washington if forced to choose.
New polling of public opinion about China has revealed a high level support for Beijing and its involvement in Argentina. Caught amidst the geopolitical fight between China and the US, most Argentines rejected having to choose a side. Even supporters of President Mauricio Macri have a positive view of the People’s Republic, the new Argentina Pulse survey found.
Anew poll detailing how Argentines view China has revealed something of a success story for the People’s Republic’s inroads into Latin America, spelling danger for US officials hoping to curb its adversary’s growing influence in the region.
The Argentina-Pulse survey, which quizzed 1,019 locals about their opinions of foreign countries, found that 76 percent held a positive view of China. Furthermore, 54 percent of respondents said that, if necessary, Argentina should seek to prioritise its relationship with China over the United States.
“That certainly reduces the influence of the US government
in Argentina,” said Benjamin Gedan, the director of the Argentina Project at the Wilson Center, a US-based think-tank that carried out the poll with local pollsters Poliarquía Consultores. “But Argentine openness to China is not an attempt to embrace a US adversary… rather it’s a recognition of the importance of Chinese finance for Argentine infrastructure, and of the importance of the Chinese market for Argentine exports.”
Beijing’s popularity in Argentina materialised alongside its emergence as an economic power on the world stage, supported by Chinese immigration to Argentina and cultural exchanges, according to Jorge Malena, director of the graduate course on contemporary China at Catholic University of Argentina (UCA).
“At the beginning of the 2000s, China had not yet acquired it’s political and international economic projection that it possesses currently, when it was seen as an emerging economy,”Malenasaid.“Thissituation has changed in the last 10 years, as China today is one of the three principal commercial partners, foreign investors, lenders and senders of technology to Argentina.”
Argentines also tend to have a positive view of China’s increasing investment in the country, which has diversified from infrastructure projects like the General San Martín Railway to foreign direct investment.
The poll found 80 percent of respondents viewed Chinese investment in Argentina’s struggling economy positively.
DEEPENING TIES
Since 2005, Chinese policy banks have lent US$17-billion to the government to fund energy and infrastructure projects, according to the Inter-American Dialogue, a US-based think tank that tracks Beijing’s lending in the region.
Many of these loans were approved under the governments of former presidents Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, including financial support
76 percent held a positive view of China. Furthermore, 54 percent of respondents said that, if necessary, Argentina should seek to prioritise its relationship with China over the United States.