Latin America enjoys rosy view with partner

With BRI, region's trade with China skyrockets, and cultural bonds grow

Ties between Latin America and China have grown from strength to strength with the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative as people from the two sides make deeper connections.

Between 2002 and 2021, trade between China and the Latin America region soared from $18 billion to $450 billion.

"It is a particularly good moment for China's relations with Latin America," said Henrique Reis, international relations manager at China Trade Center Group. "The COVID-19 pandemic is now a bit more under control, trade is happening extremely fast and in a very dynamic fashion, despite difficulties such as global freight rates."

Brazil is just one of the countries in the region that is hitting new highs in its trade performance with China.

"China and Brazil had a new trade record last year, reaching over $135 billion," said Reis, whose organization promotes cooperation in trade, technology and culture between China and Brazil, where he is based in Sao Paulo.

Exports to China rose 29.4 percent to over $87 billion in 2021. About 31 percent of Brazilian exports were shipped to China, which is Brazil's main trade partner.

Neighboring Argentina is also strengthening ties with China. President Alberto Fernandez traveled to Beijing early this year for the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics and to mark his country's official joining of the China-proposed BRI.

"The incorporation of Argentina to the BRI is a milestone. Argentina faces a historic opportunity to expand the lines of cooperation and trade with China," said Vicente Teruggi, director of projects at the Sino-Argentine Observatory, a nonprofit organization in Buenos Aires.

Teruggi said this is not limited "to cooperation, financing and trade, but also enables Argentina to bring its technology, knowledge and value-added products to the entire" network of BRI nations.

Important opportunities

Trade between China and Argentina in 2021 totaled $19.6 billion, with Argentina exporting over $6.1 billion, up around 17 percent year-on-year. In December, Argentina exported more than 36,000 metric tons of meat to China, three times as much as in January 2018, according to Delta Analysis, an analytics firm with operations in Buenos Aires.

With its entry into the BRI, Argentina now has one of the most important opportunities of the past 20 years, said Teruggi. "It is an opportunity to seize in a strategic and planned way and one that requires a lot of patience."

Up in the Andean region, Peru's trade with China is also increasing at a fast pace. Coffee exports from China more than tripled between 2018 and 2021 to over $1.4 billion. Opportunities are also on the rise for native products such as quinoa, an Andean cereal.

According to the Peruvian government, trade between Peru and the Chinese mainland in 2021 rose 39 percent, reaching almost $31 billion, thanks largely to mineral and fishing products.

"China was the export destination for Peru in 2021, in great part due to raw materials and agro-industrial products," said Ramon Abasolo, a political analyst in Lima.

David Castrillon, a research professor in international relations at the Externado University of Colombia, said: "The economic relationship between Latin America and China is entering a new stage that promises greater development for the region."

Colombia is a country also increasing its economic exchange with China, like others such as Uruguay, which aims to ink a free trade agreement with China by the end of the year.

Free trade agreements and the BRI are helping Latin America and China integrate in a more profound way.

"What was a strictly commercial relationship has now broadened and deepened to new areas, for example, the export of consumer goods and services, the financing and participation in construction projects, and the financing of both state-owned and private sector companies," said Castrillon.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.