Xi vows stronger Sino-LAC ties
China will bolster partnership, support region’s integration, president tells CELAC summit
President Xi Jinping has reiterated China’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with Latin American and Caribbean, or LAC, countries, saying the nation stands ready to work with them to promote global peace and development and advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Xi made the remarks in a video speech delivered at the seventh Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, which was held on Jan 24 in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
He was invited to address the summit by President Alberto Fernandez of Argentina, which holds the rotating presidency of the regional body — a multilateral group of 33 countries from across the Western Hemisphere not including Canada and the United States.
Xi said that Latin American and Caribbean countries are important members of the developing world that take an active part in global governance and make important contributions to it.
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States has grown to be an indispensable force bolstering global South-South cooperation, and it has played an important role in safeguarding regional peace, promoting common development and advancing regional integration, he said.
Xi reaffirmed China’s support for the regional integration process of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as its commitment to developing relations with the regional organization. He said that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is China’s key partner in enhancing solidarity among developing countries and furthering South-South cooperation.
“That is why China has been working with Latin American and the Caribbean countries to steadily strengthen the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and take their relationship into a new era characterized by equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and benefits for the people,” Xi said.
An increasing number of countries in the LAC region have engaged in high-quality cooperation with China on the Belt and Road Initiative, and have supported and participated in the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, he added.
In 2022, Nicaragua and Argentina each signed a memorandum of understanding with China to jointly build the Belt and Road, and the agreements have promoted investment and cooperation in fields such as electricity, transportation, telecommunications and energy.
Noting that the world is in a new period of turbulence and transformation, Xi emphasized that only through greater solidarity and closer cooperation can the international community tackle the challenges and tide over this trying time.
China is ready to continue working with Latin American and Caribbean countries to help each other and to make progress together, advocate the common values of mankind featuring peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, and build a world with a brighter future, he said.
Founded in 2011, the regional body in Latin America and the Caribbean represents around 600 million people. A joint declaration released after the CELAC summit stressed the commitment of member states to accelerating regional integration.
In a recent interview with China Media Group, Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs Santiago Cafiero said that China’s participation in the summit is important, as it helps to advance cooperation on some issues and coordinate a multilateral agenda.
China is an important trade partner to most of the Latin American and Caribbean countries, so its participation in the discussions of regional development has great relevance to the member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Cafiero said.
China maintains its position as Latin America’s second-largest trading partner. According to China’s General Administration of Customs, trade between China and Latin America and the Caribbean exceeded $450 billion in 2021. In the first three quarters of 2022, the figure increased by 12.5 percent over the same period the previous year.
The Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is a platform to promote the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two sides based on equality, mutual benefit and common development. Three ministeriallevel meetings of the forum have been held since it was founded in 2014.