Xi to push ties with Chile to new height
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to begin his visit to Chile on Monday local time, a trip that experts project will result in upgraded bilateral ties and a free trade agreement with the Latin American country.
Chile is the last leg of Xi’s trip to Latin America after visiting Ecuador and attending the 24th Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Peru.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has highlighted the importance of the Chile- China strategic partnership and expects Xi’s visit will push forward the relationship to a new height, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
“Chile, a country that has always been friendly to China, had the foresight to establish cooperation with China even when China was underdeveloped,” said Liu Yuqin, former
Chinese ambassador to Chile and a research fellow at the China Foundation for International Studies.
Chile was the first South American nation to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1970 and the first in Latin America to sign a bilateral accord after China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.
After years of cooperation with mutual benefits, it is time that the two countries broaden cooperation and elevate ties, Liu said.
Chile has highly anticipated the elevation of Sino- Chilean ties from “strategic partnership” to “comprehensive strategic partnership,” Liu Rutao, trade counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Chile was quoted by news site cri. cn as saying. China and Chile raised their “comprehensive cooperative” ties to “strategic partnership” in 2012.
“The further upgrade to the bilateral relationship will not only benefit the two countries, but will also heighten Chile’s role in connecting China and Latin America,” Liu said.
She said that Chile can encourage other Latin American countries that have fewer exchanges with China to be more cooperative by showing the huge economic achievements that resulted from its collaboration with China.
Free trade expansion
In 2005, Chile became the first state in Latin America to sign a free trade agreement with China. Since then, bilateral trade volume has grown fourfold in 10 years. China is now Chile’s biggest trade partner.
Jiang Shixue, director of the Latin American Studies Center at Shanghai University, predicts that the trade structure between China and Chile will become more diversified, as the free trade agreement is to be upgraded during Xi’s visit after 10 years of practice.
While its non- copper exports have been on the rise, accounting for one- fifth of the country’s total exports to China since 2014, copper is still Chile’s main raw material export, Xinhua reported.
Liu said Chinese companies are welcomed by the Chilean government to invest in copper development and manufacturing high value- added mineral products, instead of simply importing copper.
Other imports, such as fruit, have huge potential to increase by adopting more efficient transportation means to keep farm products fresh, Jiang told the Global Times.
Chile was the top supplier of fresh cranberries and cherries to China last year, and 77 percent of China’s whole salmon and fresh plum imports came from Chile, according to Xinhua. Beef, lamb and wine imports are also gaining in popularity.
Experts believe that China’s infrastructure investment in the South American country will be another highlight during Xi’s state visit.
The integration process among countries in South America will encourage Chinese companies to invest in infrastructure, such as roads and railways like a potential tunnel project through the Andes, Liu said.
“The tunnel connecting the Chile and Argentina, once built, will facilitate Argentina’s export of agricultural products to China,” Liu said.