Skip to main content

Chile praises China’s ‘constructive role’ at Latin American forum

Chile’s Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz (R) with Spain’s former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. (Source: REUTERS/File)
Chile’s foreign minister welcomed Chinese representatives to a meeting with Latin American and Caribbean countries on Sunday, praising the Asian nation for rejecting protectionism as the United States backs away from global trade.
Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz, who has criticized US President Donald Trump in the past, told a news conference that Latin America could do a lot more to stimulate trade with China and called on its nations to take advantage of the talks to improve ties.
“We are in uncertain and complex times, and China is playing a very constructive role in addressing these complexities,” he said.
China has sought a bigger role overseas since Trump was elected, presenting its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade agreement as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was abandoned by the United States.
Representatives from China and the 33 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) are holding meetings on Sunday and Monday in the Chilean capital, Santiago.
China sees it as “natural” to expand its westward infrastructure drive – the “One Belt, One Road” initiative – to Latin America, China’s foreign minister said in an interview with a local newspaper on Sunday.
“China wants the participation of all the countries of the region to be involved in the construction of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ … so they can share the great opportunities and dividends of this platform of global cooperation,” Minister Wang Yi said in an interview with El Mercurio.
Proposed in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the project promotes a vision of expanding links between Asia, Africa and Europe, with billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.
China is already testing U.S. dominance in Latin America, offering the region $250 billion in investment over the next decade. It is the top trading partner of many countries in the region, including Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
In recent years, Chinese companies have moved away from merely buying Latin American raw materials and are diversifying into sectors like auto manufacturing, e-commerce and even technology businesses like car-hailing services.
Chile, one of the most open economies in Latin America, updated its bilateral trade deal with China in November 2017 on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic summit.
“Like Chile, China rejects protectionism in favor of openness, connectivity, investment, trade and cooperation,” Munoz said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meryl Streep wants to trademark her own name

Meryl Streep has won three Oscars, three Emmys and six Golden Globes during her 40-year long career on stage, screen and television. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File) Meryl Streep, the most celebrated actress of her generation, has filed an application to trademark her name. The application was filed with US Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, records show. It requests that the name Meryl Streep be trademarked for “entertainment services,” movie appearances, speaking engagements and autographs. Streep, 68, last week extended her record to 21 Academy Award nominations, this time for her role in “The Post.” She has won three Oscars, three Emmys and six Golden Globes during her 40-year long career on stage, screen and television. It is not clear why Streep would file a trademark application at this stage in her career and her attorney and publicist did not return a request for comment on Monday. Many celebrities trademark their names or catch phrases to pro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beijing’s struggle against pollution will be tough, take time: Mayor

Beijing’s battle against air pollution will take time and be very tough to win despite recent improvements, the acting mayor of China’s capital said on Wednesday. The city has been fighting to clean its notoriously smoggy air through steps such as pushing households and factories to switch away from coal to cleaner fuels like natural gas. “Further improvement in air quality (will be) extremely difficult,” acting mayor of Beijing, Chen Jining, said in a statement released during the city’s congress meeting. The central government’s intense focus on air quality means many local officials’ careers are linked to the success of efforts to tackle smog, making it unusual to speak candidly about the challenges of meeting tough targets. Beijing has chalked up a short-term success by cutting the annual average level of breathable particulate matter (PM 2.5) to 58 micrograms per cubic metre in 2017, beating a target set by the State Council in 2012. However, the city is still some way f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Under fire, Steve Bannon backs off explosive comments about Donald Trump’s son

Bannon, ousted from the White House in August, was quoted in “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” by journalist Michael Wolff, as saying a June 2016 meeting with a group of Russians attended by Donald Trump Jr. and his father’s top campaign officials was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” (Photo: Reuters) President Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon on Sunday backed away from derogatory comments ascribed to him about Trump’s son in a new book that sparked White House outrage and could threaten Bannon’s influence as a would-be conservative power broker. Bannon, ousted from the White House in August, was quoted in “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” by journalist Michael Wolff, as saying a June 2016 meeting with a group of Russians attended by Donald Trump Jr. and his father’s top campaign officials was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” The president responded by saying Bannon had lost his mind, and the White House suggested the hard-right news site...
Post a Comment
Read more