China Daily Editorial
The resounding victory of Argentina’s right-wing libertarian outsider Javier Milei in Sunday’s presidential election has shaken the country’s political landscape and will change its economic road map. It has also raised questions about how the bilateral relations between South America’s No. 2 economy and its major trading partners such as China will evolve, given the change in leadership is expected to set the country on a new foreign policy path.
Milei, a 53-year-old economist, won the election riding on a radical agenda to deal with the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades. He has vowed to close multiple ministries to reduce government spending, shut down the central bank and ditch the Argentine peso in favor of the US dollar.
He has also reportedly criticized Brazil and China – two of the country’s major trading partners – saying he won’t deal with “communists”. His previous assertion that Argentina will not now join the BRICS grouping has exacerbated concerns about the future direction of relations between Argentina and China while he is in office.
However, people should not read too much into such seemingly extreme remarks at this stage, given that they were part of his campaign rhetoric intended to appeal to a specific segment of the vote. In past years, Milei has dubbed Pope Francis everything from an “imbecile” to the devil’s man on Earth, only to speak on the phone with his countryman on Tuesday calling him “His Holiness”.
Diana Mondino, Milei’s senior adviser and likely foreign minister, has already said that some of his remarks have been blown out of proportion and taken out of context.
China, as Argentina’s second-largest trading partner and its largest export market for agricultural products, has always remained a trustworthy friend of the country, which lays a solid foundation for the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties. China has supported Argentina with anti-COVID-19 materials and vaccines after the start of the pandemic, and extended a helping hand when the country was experiencing a severe drought and financial difficulties.
“The bilateral relations have maintained sound momentum of growth,” Mao Ning, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday. “China stands ready to work with Argentina to keep relations on a steady course going forward.”
Indeed, it would be a huge foreign policy mistake if Argentina were to cut ties with major countries such as China, as Mondino said in a recent interview, in which she said the newly elected Argentine government values its relations with China.
Argentina is currently facing unprecedented economic challenges marked by triple-digit inflation, rising poverty and a looming recession. It is understandable that the new government hopes to explore all ways possible to try to lift the country out of the economic quagmire as quickly as possible.
But China will definitely prove to be part of the solution, rather than the problem.
– Courtesy of China Daily
