President Xi Jinping has called for countries to stand together to promote global peace and stability, stressing that “there were no winners in tariff wars”, in a veiled reference to the US.
In his first public remarks since US-China trade talks at the weekend, Xi told leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean that “bullying or hegemonism only leads to self-isolation”.
Xi was speaking at the opening of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-Celac forum – a grouping of the Caribbean Community of Latin American and Caribbean States – in Beijing on Tuesday.
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“The world is undergoing a century of rapid change, with multiple risks compounding one another. Only through solidarity and cooperation can countries maintain world peace and stability,” he said.
Xi told the gathering that China and countries from Latin America and the Caribbean were important members of the Global South, adding that development was their inherent right and that fairness and justice were their shared pursuits.
China was willing to work with countries in the face of rising geopolitical tensions and bloc confrontations and the “surging undercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism”, he said.
Xi announced five programmes that will involve China working with countries from the two regions over the next three years.
They included enhancing coordination on international affairs, deepening trade and cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
“We will work with [Latin American and Caribbean] countries to firmly safeguard the international system ... and to speak with one voice in international and regional affairs,” Xi said.
“China agrees that Latin America will jointly implement the Global Development Initiative and firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system. It is important to maintain the stability and smooth flow of global industrial and supply chains and to maintain an open and cooperative international environment.”
Xi added that China would also provide 66 billion yuan (US$9.14 billion) in credit funds to the region, as well as strengthening law enforcement cooperation to help train their personnel and provide necessary material support.
He also announced that China would grant visa exemptions for a first batch of five Latin American and Caribbean countries to boost exchanges and highlighted trade progress with the region, as he backed the idea of economic globalisation that “aligns with the trend”.
Under the belt and road framework, more than 200 infrastructure projects have been implemented in the region, creating over a million jobs. Bilateral trade also exceeded US$500 billion for the first time last year, a 40-fold increase compared to the start of this century.
“We unite in tough times to conquer challenges through mutual support,” Xi said.
Over the next three years, Xi pledged to continue cooperation in food and agriculture while also expanding cooperation in areas such as clean energy, digital economy, and artificial intelligence.
Top officials from Latin America and the Caribbean, including the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Chile were among those attending the forum.
In their speeches, the foreign leaders sought to strike a message of unity in turbulent times, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro saying that countries “must not destroy our trade or threaten each other with bombs”. Instead they should promote multilateralism, he said.
Petro, whose country is a major US military ally in the region, announced after his arrival in Beijing on Monday that Colombia would be signing on to the belt and road infrastructure plan.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said the world had been marked by fragmentation and rising geopolitical tensions, and that “we reaffirm our conviction to free and fair trade as it is a path to progress and prosperity”.
“We stay committed to strategic independence, and we often say that sovereignty does not only mean to respect the physical border of one country, but to respect the right of a country to decide the future of itself and to carry out trade ... it cannot be just decided by one or two countries.”
Boric said he looked forward to implementing the five programmes with China that were outlined by Xi, and praised the benefits that the belt and road plan had brought to the region.
Xi’s message was in line with China’s broader efforts to enlist support from other countries, particularly in the Global South, against the backdrop of its trade war with the United States – despite talks on the weekend which resulted in both sides agreeing to cutting their reciprocal tariffs by 115 per cent during a 90-day pause.
Washington is also seeking to expand its influence in what it regards as its backyard, including putting pressure on Panama to free the canal through the country from what the White House views as Chinese control.
According to China’s foreign ministry, Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi will chair a meeting with foreign ministers from the more than 30 Celac countries attending the forum.
In a commentary published by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Tuesday, Wang stressed the strong ties between China and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
They have firmly supported each other’s core interests and opposed “hegemony and power politics”, he said.
China’s investments in the two regions came with no political conditions, which stood in contrast to “some major powers [that] have only brought negative energy” to the regions”, Wang added, in another apparent reference to the US.
“It is clear who is a reliable friend of Latin American and Caribbean countries and who is a partner for long-term cooperation.”
Wang also pointed out that “some major countries” have been pursuing policies that put their own countries first, and called for countries to join China in standing “on the right side of history [and] on the side of fairness and justice”.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted Miao Deyu, assistant minister of foreign affairs for Latin America, as saying that multiple cooperation documents were expected to be adopted, including in technology, artificial intelligence and trade.
“The [meeting] will send a clear message of China and the Celac countries working together in solidarity to jointly address global challenges,” Miao said.
“Both China and the Celac countries support economic globalisation, multilateralism and the multilateral trading system, oppose unilateralism and economic bullying, and oppose politicising and weaponising economic and trade relations.”
Last week, the Chinese leader delivered similar messages in talks with his Venezuelan and Cuban counterparts in Moscow. Calling ties “ironclad”, he told Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that China stood ready to work with Latin America to firmly uphold the international order.
Xi also told Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel that Cuba should work with China to “oppose power politics and unilateral bullying and safeguard international fairness and justice”.
Celac has served as a key intergovernmental platform for cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean nations since 2015. It has become a major venue for dialogue on trade, investment, and infrastructure collaboration under the belt and road framework.
To mark the forum’s 10th anniversary, Beijing hosted a high-level gathering that brought together more than a dozen heads of state and foreign ministers from the region, including the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Chile.
The event took place as China stepped up its diplomatic engagement with Global South nations amid escalating trade tensions with Washington.
On April 2, most Latin American countries were hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff by the United States, with some, like Venezuela, facing even higher rates. However, President Donald Trump later granted a 90-day reprieve to most nations to allow time for trade negotiations with the US.
More from South China Morning Post:
- China, US reduce majority of tariffs after first round of trade talks
- Brazil’s Lula arrives in China as Beijing decries ‘bullying’ of Latin America
- Donald Trump says he may speak to Xi Jinping this week following US-China tariff agreement
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