(Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing on Wednesday with President of the Republic of Colombia Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, who is on a state visit to China. The two leaders set the course for the development of China-Colombia relations in the new era by announcing the elevation of bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.
China has gained increasing attention in Latin American countries. This is not only because China can offer them more development opportunities to boost their economy, but also because the Asian power can be a partner in improving global governance and international order, experts said.
Petro arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for his three-day state visit. This is the Colombian president’s first state visit to China since taking office in 2022.
Xi noted that in the 43 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Colombia, bilateral relations have withstood the tests of international changes and maintained good development momentum. The establishment of a strategic partnership between China and Colombia is the result of long-term efforts by both countries and reflects mutual trust and cooperation, which should be continuously valued and enriched.
Xi believes China’s high-quality modernization and development process will open up new development opportunities for countries around the world, including Colombia. As developing countries, both sides must strengthen communication and cooperation in international affairs and protect the common interests of developing countries and international justice.
Petro expressed that Colombia welcomes Xi’s Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative and is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with China within multilateral mechanisms. Colombia stands ready to maintain communication with China on issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and promote the early search for a solution to the ceasefire and stabilization of the situation, he said.
The two heads of state attended a signing ceremony and jointly witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents in the areas of industrial investment and trade, digital economy, green development, agriculture, science and technology, education and culture, inspection and quarantine.
Xi welcomes Colombia to join the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for shared development and prosperity, to which the Colombian president attaches great importance. After establishing a strategic partnership, Petro said the Colombian side is ready to align its geographical advantages and development strategies with the BRI.
Experts pointed out that Petro’s visit will take the development of China-Colombia relations to a new level.
Although Colombia has not yet officially joined the BRI, cooperation between the two countries will be taken to another level within the framework, said Xu Shicheng, a researcher at the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
“Petro, who has a strong desire to advance infrastructure construction after taking office, hopes to leverage China’s financial resources, technology and management experience to achieve the goal of modernizing Colombia’s infrastructure development. He also wants to expand exports of agricultural and livestock products to China. Sun Yanfeng, director of Latin America research at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said on Wednesday.
In 2025, Colombia will assume the rotating presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Xi emphasized that China attaches great importance to the development of China-Latin America relations and is willing to continue supporting the integration process in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Expressing his willingness to work with Latin American countries to promote the stable and long-term development of China-Latin America relations, he took the 10th anniversary of the founding of the China-CELAC Forum in 2024 as an opportunity.
In recent months, leaders of Latin American countries have frequently visited China and reached several agreements with the country. Last week, Chilean President Gabriel Boric visited China and attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Last month, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro paid a state visit to China. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Honduran President Xiomara Castro also visited China in April and June.
Sun said these frequent visits to China reflect these countries’ demands and demands for comprehensive cooperation, not only because of the financial, technological and trade opportunities China offers.
“For example, Brazil hopes for strategic support from China on global governance issues such as environmental protection, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Palestine conflicts. Venezuela expects China to resist the hegemonism imposed by the United States.” “Chile and Argentina would like to hold joint discussions with China on how to promote a development path that suits their own country in the current uncertain international situation. Honduras wants comprehensive cooperation with China in the areas of politics, development concepts and trade,” he said. Sun.
Since several Latin American countries are currently governed by left or center-left parties, their governments tend to have much friendlier relations with China, both economically and politically. This also shows the exemplary impact of the BRI and other Chinese-Latin American cooperation in the region, observers noted.
Source: Global Times
(Web editor: Rosa Liu, Zhao Jian)