Argentine ex-official offers his insights

There are many similarities between the cultures of China and Argentina, and media coverage and people-to-people exchanges are adding to understanding, a former Argentine interior minister said.

Jose Luis Manzano, now a partner in the media giant Grupo America, told China Daily a few days ahead of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Argentina that there is more potential for the two countries to enhance economic ties and cultural exchanges.

Manzano said the best means of cultural exchange “is having a permanent flow” of travelers in both directions. That could happen through institutions such as universities and the media, he said.

“The best way of approaching two cultures is through people that know and visit each other,” he said.

The similarities shared between people from the two cultures are clear, he said, noting that he has visited China numerous times since the 1980s and has been impressed by the country’s economic progress and the work ethic of its people.

“I found China is a country with a hardworking culture and friendly people,” he said.

Those attributes, along with China’s family culture, reminds Manzano of Argentina.

“The Argentine people are family people, hardworking people,” he said. “I believe the empathy the Argentine people express for Chinese culture comes from that. I saw more similarities in the cultures than the first initial idea of differences.”

The rising number of Argentines visiting China each year is a product of ever-warmer relations between the two countries, said China’s Ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming. From 2015 to 2017, the number of Argentine tourists who visited China doubled from 30,000 to 60,000 annually, he said.

The increasing presence of news about China in Argentine media also helps the country learn more about its major trading partner, he added.

“Obviously, the coverage of China in Argentine media is growing and will constantly grow with the role that China plays in investments and trade in the country,” Manzano said.

As of 2017, China was Argentina’s third-largest trade partner, importing $4.7 billion in goods from the country, according to data from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Argentina is a reliable supplier of products to China — soybeans, agricultural products and oil,” Manzano said.

The government and society are working on broadening exports to China, a process that could be helped by Chinese media as they introduce those products to Chinese consumers.

“The media cooperation is an accelerator,” he said.

With Xi’s visit to Argentina for the G20 Summit this week, Manzano is seeing increasing cooperation between the two nations, including more export opportunities for Argentine businesses and more Chinese investments.

The enhanced business relationship also is expected to facilitate further cultural exchanges, Manzano said, especially as more small and medium-sized companies gain accesses to each other’s markets.

“The commercial relationships and the cultural relations should not be limited to the elite of major companies and should get to the small and medium-sized companies and also to ordinary citizens,” Manzano said.