Xi embarks on Latin America trip to champion cooperation, multilateralism

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping is embarking on a journey Wednesday to Latin America, where he will attend the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, capital of Peru, and the 19th G20 Summit in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, and pay state visits to the two countries.

As he travels halfway around the globe, the world is witnessing a host of unprecedented and intertwined chaos and challenges: lackluster economic growth, rising trade protectionism and protracted regional conflicts. These pressing crises are demanding global unity, resolve and, most of all, effective actions.

Xi's visit is expected to boost China's efforts with Latin American nations to build a community with a shared future, bolster cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, and renew the world's commitment to improving global governance for an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

NEW MILESTONES

Over the past three decades, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, has driven rapid development in the region, turning it into a powerhouse for world economic growth, an anchor of stability for global development, and a pacesetter for international cooperation.

As President Xi has put it, since the establishment of the economic leaders' regular meeting mechanism, APEC has always stood at the global forefront of openness and development. It has played a robust role in promoting Asia-Pacific trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, economic growth and technological progress, and the flow of goods and people. It has helped create the "Asia-Pacific miracle" that has staggered the world.

As the highest-level, broadest, and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, APEC embodies the deep aspirations of partners to build a better future together.

The Asia-Pacific region has great economic potential thanks to its rich natural resources, booming tourism, dynamic markets with strong purchasing power, and fast-growing digital economy. In October, the International Monetary Fund predicted that the world economy will grow at 3.2 percent in 2024 and the emerging and developing Asia is expected to grow at 5.3 percent this year.

As Xi has pointed out, development in the Asia-Pacific region has been achieved not through provoking antagonism and confrontation, pursuing a beggar-thy-neighbor policy, or erecting high fences around a small yard, but by staying open and inclusive and drawing on each other's strengths.

Amid growing protectionism and calls for decoupling, APEC's role as a multilateral forum dedicated to economic cooperation is more crucial than ever in fostering dialogue, said Hans Hendrischke, a professor at the University of Sydney Business School.

TRUE MULTILATERALISM

"'Sugarcane and lemongrass grow in dense clumps.'This Indonesian proverb well captures the value of solidarity. Division and confrontation serve no one's interest. Only solidarity and common development is the right choice to make," Xi made this metaphorical reference at the G20 Bali Summit in 2022 to urge G20 members to stay committed to its founding purpose of unity and cooperation, carry forward the spirit of solidarity, and uphold the principle of consensus.

In the face of a sluggish global economy, compounded crises in food and energy security, frequent geopolitical conflicts, and a severe deficit in global governance, the upcoming G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the theme of "Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet," not only responds to the call of the times but also reflects the aspirations of all nations.

During the upcoming G20 summit, his 11th attendance at the gathering, Xi will address key issues such as building an open world economy and improving global governance, and elaborate on China's positions and offer China's insights and solutions.

Within the G20 cooperative framework, China has, as always, been focusing on development issues. At the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016, development was, for the first time, brought to the fore within the global macro-policy framework.

"All G20 members should take the responsibility inherent in being major international and regional players, and should lead by example in promoting development of all nations, improving the well-being for the whole mankind, and advancing progress of the entire world," Xi said at the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali.

From being the first to explicitly support the African Union's accession to the G20, to striving to bridge the North-South "digital divide," China has always contributed to improving the global governance system and increasing the representation and voice of developing countries.

The global governance concept proposed by China meets the needs of the new economic and development environment, said Dora Isabel Gonzalez, a Mexican scholar.

SUPERCHARGE DEVELOPMENT

The Chancay Port, 78 km north of Lima, is set to become a new shipping hub connecting Asia and Latin America, making the "Chancay to Shanghai" route a true path of prosperity, promoting the common development of China and Peru, Xi said.

Spanning across the vast Pacific Ocean, China and Peru have long-lasting sincere friendship. The two countries have witnessed increasingly close economic and trade cooperation as well as cultural exchanges in recent years.

Peru is one of the first Latin American countries to establish diplomatic relations and a comprehensive strategic partnership with China.

It is also the first Latin American country to sign a package of free trade agreements with China. Meanwhile, China has been Peru's largest trading partner and largest export market for 10 years in a row.

Brazil, the second destination of Xi's trip, is China's long-standing friend. The two countries have made substantial progress in their relationship.

As major developing countries and important emerging markets, China and Brazil are good friends sharing the same goals and good partners moving forward together, Xi said.

China has been Brazil's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, while Brazil is China's top trading partner and the largest investment destination in Latin America.

The two countries have closely coordinated and cooperated on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, BRICS, and G20, safeguarding the common interests of both nations and that of developing countries.

Ten years ago, Xi first proposed in Brasilia the vision of building a China-Latin America community with a shared future, charting the course for the development of China-Latin America relations in the new era.

Over the years, Xi has focused on the shared future of China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, working for steady advancement in China-Latin America relations based on equality, mutual benefit, and common development.

Cooperation between China and Latin American countries on the multilateral stage will further unite and empower countries in the Global South, playing a constructive role in addressing global issues and reforming the global governance system, said Patricio Giusto, director of the Sino-Argentine Observatory.