Xiplomacy: How China, LAC countries bolster shared development, boost Global South unity

COMMON GROWTH, SHARED FUTURE

China and LAC countries ride the tide of progress together to pursue win-win cooperation, Xi said on Tuesday, noting that while embracing the trend of economic globalization, the two sides have deepened cooperation in trade, investment, finance, science and technology, infrastructure, among other fields.

In the framework of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, China and LAC countries have implemented more than 200 infrastructure projects, creating over a million jobs and forging a path of cooperation bridging the Pacific.

Notable examples include the China-LAC satellite cooperation program, which has become a model for high-tech South-South collaboration and the inauguration of Chancay Port in Peru, which has created a new land-and-sea connectivity link between Asia and Latin America.

China has also signed free trade agreements with Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Last year, trade between China and LAC countries exceeded $500 billion for the first time, an increase of over 40 times from the beginning of this century.

For ordinary people like Leonardo Talledos, an operations control engineer for Colombia's Bogota Metro Line 1, the significance of China-LAC cooperation today goes far beyond trade figures and project counts -- it shapes his career and supports his aspirations.

Built and operated by Chinese companies, Bogota Metro Line 1 is Colombia's largest infrastructure project to date. Once operational in 2028, it will cut travel time between terminal stations from nearly three hours to just 27 minutes.

In 2023, Talledos traveled to Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, for a year-long training program in metro operations, where he witnessed the rapid development of China's urban transit systems. Inspired by the experience, he returned to Colombia to help compile training materials and operational guidelines for the metro line.

"From the moment we were hired, we were told that being part of this project was being part of Bogota's history, because it was the beginning, the first line of many lines to come in the future," said Talledos.