“This afternoon is ‘China-Latin America time.’” On July 17, 2014, at the China-Latin America and Caribbean leaders’ meeting held in Brasilia, Brazil, President Xi Jinping made it clear: “It’s great that so many leaders from China and Latin America can gather together. Together, it is a historical event with world influence. "
It was in this keynote speech that President Xi Jinping first proposed the initiative of building a community of shared future for China and Latin America, and made plans for building a new five-in-one pattern for China-Latin America relations. The top-level design of the new “1+3+6” framework.
Recalling the important speech he heard from President Xi Jinping 10 years ago, Fausto Pinato, chairman of the Brazil-China Parliamentarian Front in the Brazilian Congress, told reporters about his feelings: "It has been 10 years since President Xi Jinping proposed that China and Latin America build a community of a shared future for common progress. , China-Latin America partnership continues to deepen, and our two sides have well interpreted the connotation of mutually beneficial cooperation. At the same time, the concept of shared destiny has gathered broad consensus in the international community.”
Under the strategic guidance of heads of state diplomacy, the ship of a community with a shared future between China and Latin America is sailing high and sailing steadily and forward.
Important partners for common development
"Common dreams and common pursuits closely link China and Latin America." Ten years ago, President Xi Jinping had such a profound judgment on China-Latin America relations.
China and Latin America are both developing countries and emerging economies, and they are all at an important stage of development and revitalization. Despite the distance, China has always attached great importance to developing China-Latin America relations and regards Latin American and Caribbean countries as important partners in consolidating the unity of developing countries and promoting South-South cooperation.
In June this year, Peruvian President Boruarte paid his first state visit to China, bringing with him a number of important cabinet ministers and economic representatives. In an interview with the media, she described the key words of her national development vision - "a country that allows children to have a future", "reduce poverty", "no more hunger"... Through visits to Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou and other places , she had a personal experience of the achievements of Chinese-style modernization and saw hope for the future.
During the meeting with President Xi Jinping, President Boruarte expressed emotion: Peru sincerely admires China’s great achievements and hopes to learn from China’s successful experience and help Peru better achieve its own development by further expanding and close practical cooperation between the two countries. .
Since 2023, President Xi Jinping has met with heads of state or other Latin American and Caribbean countries such as Brazil, Honduras, Guyana, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Suriname, Peru, Cuba, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica. The heads of government held meetings, sent letters, made phone calls, and talked on the phone. “Cooperation” and “development” were frequently used words in the heads of state’s diplomacy. China's relations with Venezuela have been upgraded to an all-weather strategic partnership, relations with Uruguay have been upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and strategic partnerships have been established with Colombia and Nicaragua. In recent years, Panama, Dominica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras have established or restored diplomatic relations with China. China and an increasing number of Latin American and Caribbean partners have joined hands to build a five-in-one China-Latin America relationship featuring sincerity and mutual trust in politics, win-win cooperation in economy and trade, mutual learning in humanities, close coordination in international affairs, and mutual promotion of overall cooperation and bilateral relations. New pattern.
Penildon Silva Jr., a professor at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, pays special attention to the news of intensive visits to China by heads of state and dignitaries from Latin American and Caribbean countries. "Wherever the engine of the global economy is, Latin American countries will naturally turn their attention to it. Developing China-Latin America relations is an important part of building a multi-polar world today," he said.
Tightening the bonds of connectivity
President Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that China is willing to work with Latin America to promote the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and promote China-Latin America cooperation to become deeper and more substantial. So far, 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries have signed cooperation documents with China on jointly building the "Belt and Road".
For a long time, Latin America and the Caribbean's infrastructure has been weak, logistics costs have remained high, and economic development has faced many constraints. Over the past 10 years, China and Latin America have become important partners in jointly building the “Belt and Road”. Antigua and Barbuda's St. John's deep-water port project, Argentina's Belgrano freight railway reconstruction project, Brazil's Belgrano UHV transmission line, and Jamaica's north-south highway project... one after another, interconnection projects have been promoted and implemented one after another, benefiting people's livelihood. Radiating the region, it has become an important link in promoting the construction of a community with a shared future between China and Latin America, lighting up the light of hope for common development.
For as long as he can remember, 13-year-old Dinio Ajaco has been accustomed to frequent power outages at home, and often has no power at night. He lives in a remote village called Botopasi in central Suriname. Dozens of surrounding villages have relied on diesel power for a long time, with power only available for a few hours a day.
The history of lack of light and electricity is being rewritten by China-Latin America cooperation. Chinese builders have brought Chinese technology and are promoting the construction of microgrid photovoltaic hybrid power stations in each village, gradually bringing 24-hour uninterrupted power experience to thousands of villagers in the area. "With electricity, I can study at night." Ajaco has more hope and confidence in future planning. "The life of our area will get better and better."
In recent years, China and Latin America have high-quality cooperation The construction of the “Belt and Road” has continued to make new progress. In Peru, the main mobile equipment of the Chancay Port project under construction by a Chinese company is driven by pure electric power, and the air consumption of related equipment is reduced through intelligent systems; in Trinidad and Tobago, the Phoenix Industrial Park built by a Chinese company has become the first in Latin America. An industrial park covered by 5G network is also equipped with environmental protection facilities such as solar street lights and high-standard sewage treatment system.
Fernando Fazzolari, coordinator of the Infrastructure Committee of the Argentina-China Chamber of Commerce, believes that the "Belt and Road" construction adheres to the principle of extensive consultation, joint construction and shared benefits, emphasizing mutual benefit and win-win rather than unilateral gain, so it is very popular in Latin America. Become a booster for the rapid development of China-Latin America relations.
The Chinese market is so close.
"China and Latin America have strong economic complementarity, mutual development strategies, and natural advantages in strengthening cooperation." In 2014, President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the China-Latin America and Caribbean Leaders' Meeting, laying the foundation for China and Latin America and the Caribbean. The development of economic and trade relations has pointed the way.
Since 2012, China has firmly been Latin America’s second largest trading partner. In 2023, China-Latin America trade volume will exceed US$489 billion. In recent years, China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation has continued to expand from traditional areas to new energy, digital technology, cross-border e-commerce and other fields. The quality and upgrade of cooperation between the two sides have continued to release new vitality.
Peruvian craftsman Osvaldo Mamani still finds it incredible that the Chinese market "far away on the other side of the world" has completely changed his life. Mamani runs a small shop in Arequipa, a famous tourist city in southern Peru, selling his own alpaca wool handicrafts, "barely selling more than a hundred pieces" a year. A few years ago, a Chinese customer brought business opportunities. An order of 1,000 pieces made him realize for the first time how big the Chinese market was. Today, Mamani has not only brought his products to the Chinese e-commerce platform, but also to the China International Import Expo. His production factory has expanded from a small workshop on the first floor to a three-story building.
On November 2, 2023, Peruvian craftsman Osvaldo Mamani visited the Bund in Shanghai when he came to China to participate in the 6th China International Import Expo.
At present, China has signed free trade agreements with Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. The number of China's free trade partners in Latin America is second only to Asia.More good news came - China successfully held five rounds of free trade agreement negotiations with Honduras and signed an early harvest arrangement for the free trade agreement, and substantially completed free trade agreement upgrade negotiations with Peru...
Financial cooperation between China and Latin America continues to deepen, and the process of RMB internationalization is steadily advancing in Latin America. China has signed bilateral local currency swap agreements with the central banks of Argentina, Chile and other countries. Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, etc. have opened branches in many Latin American countries.
Renzo Brotto, an expert on Asia-Pacific issues at the University of Chile, said that China-Latin America economic and trade relations are highly complementary. China is not only Latin America’s top export destination, but also an important source of investment. They are interdependent and mutually beneficial, and are the key to their respective development. Strategic partners on the road.
"Visiting relatives and friends" to connect with each other
"China and Latin America are far apart, but the people of both sides have a natural sense of closeness." In 2014, President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the China-Latin American and Caribbean Leaders' Meeting, and expressed his views on Latin America. The visit was described as "visiting relatives and friends."
Right now, 16-year-old Chilean middle school student Diego Perez is eagerly looking forward to continuing to compete in China. On June 7, Perez, who has been studying Chinese for nearly four years, won the championship in the middle school group of the Chilean Division of the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition. During the talent show, he wore a black dragon-patterned costume and a blue crown, and performed a wonderful Sichuan Opera face-changing performance, which received bursts of applause and left a deep impression on people.
"Chinese is really a unique and fascinating language, and Chinese culture deeply attracts me." Perez said that he hopes to encourage more peers around him to learn Chinese through his own efforts, and also hopes to show it in the Chinese competition arena. The beauty of Chilean culture.
Since the beginning of this year, a series of wonderful moments have marked the hot scene of exchanges and cooperation between China and Latin America: the first "China-Latin America and Caribbean Countries Space Cooperation Forum" was successfully held; the China-Latin America Agriculture Ministers Forum planned and implemented a new batch of agricultural cooperation projects; a new batch of Latin American media Journalists came to China for training, and based on their personal experiences, they recorded China in their own eyes...
It is worth mentioning that recently, many direct flights between China and Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and other countries have been added or restored. Raquel Leon de la Rosa, an expert on China issues at the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla in Mexico, believes that this reflects the vitality of cooperation between China and Latin America in the fields of politics, economy, culture, science and technology, and provides opportunities for both sides to continue to enhance mutual understanding and People-to-people bonds create more opportunities.
html Over the past 010 years, friendly cooperation between China and Latin America has flourished in various fields, and China-Latin America relations have entered a new era of equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and benefit to the people. Facing the future, China and Latin America will continue to help each other and work together to build a community with a shared future for China and Latin America and lead China-Latin America friendly relations into a new voyage.Reporters: Zhao Hui, Huang Shunda, Zhu Wanjun, Zhao Yan, Bian Zhuodan, Wu Hao, Zhu Yubo, Xi Yue, Jiang Biao
Editors: Sun Hao, Zhang Yuan, Qiao Jihong, Ma Zhen, Yang Haiyun, Ma Xiaoyan, Xu Xiaolei
Photographers: Wang Tiancong, Li Mengxin, Fang Zhe, Zhao Zishuo, Mao Siqian
