Wang Yi's Brazil and Jamaica visits: Deepening South-South cooperation

Editor's note: Tiago Nogara, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a Brazilian commentator on international relations and a Ph.D. candidate in Global Studies at Shanghai University. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi went to the Western Hemisphere after concluding his trip to Africa. The inclusion of Latin America and the Caribbean in Wang Yi's tour at the beginning of the year signifies the escalating importance of Latin America and the Caribbean in China's agenda for collaboration with the Global South.

China has consistently demonstrated an unwavering dedication to advancing South-South cooperation initiatives over the decades. In the latter half of the previous century, Chinese initiatives in this domain were prominent, particularly in developing nations, as exemplified by endeavors such as the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA). Presently, numerous initiatives of even greater magnitude are being fortified through diverse instruments, including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (China-CELAC Forum), China's Climate Change South-South Cooperation, among numerous other bilateral and multilateral agreements.

Regarding Latin America and the Caribbean specifically, the coherence in relations between the countries of the region and China underscores robustness and considerable growth potential. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), between 2000 and 2022, trade between China and Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a more than 35-fold increase, reaching $14 billion in 2000 and approximating $500 billion in 2022. Chinese investments in the region are proliferating, and diverse initiatives spanning agriculture, science and technology, education, and poverty alleviation, among other sectors, are gaining momentum. With Argentina's formal accession in 2022, 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries are already encompassed within the ambit of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the China-CELAC Forum has adeptly gained noteworthy prominence as a mechanism for expanding these collaborative ties.

Wang Yi's visits to Jamaica and Brazil underscored China's commitment to deepening these relations, as both nations represent pivotal partnerships for China in the region. In 2024, the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the China-Jamaica Strategic Partnership will be commemorated, alongside the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and Brazil. Jamaica was one of the first Caribbean nations to establish a strategic partnership with China and also the pioneer in the region to join the Belt and Road Initiative. China played a central role in the construction of the significant Jamaican North-South Highway and actively contributes to the modernization of the country's infrastructure, including projects such as the Montego Bay Perimeter Road and the South Coast Highway.

In 1993, Brazil was the first developing country to forge a strategic partnership with China. Sino-Brazilian joint initiatives over recent decades have been broad and diverse, encompassing realms from satellite development partnerships since the establishment of the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program in 1988 to alignment on various themes of the international agenda, including the creation and advocacy of BRICS and the New Development Bank. Since 2009, China has been Brazil's primary trading partner, and Brazil is the principal recipient of Chinese direct investments in Latin America. The relationship between the countries attained the stature of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2012, and in recent years, bilateral cooperation has encompassed initiatives ranging from the joint production of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic to recent agreements seeking to fortify the utilization of alternative currencies to the dollar in financial transactions.

In the meeting with the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, the Chinese representative accentuated the potential for strategic synergy between the BRI and the recently launched New Growth Acceleration Program by the Brazilian government, aimed at the country's reindustrialization. Both countries voiced support for heightened strategic convergence on global governance issues, concurred on mutual visa facilitation, and pledged to deepen ties across numerous domains. In Jamaica, discussions centered on enhancing cooperation in renewable energy, trade and investments, agriculture, the digital economy, and the blue economy.

In recent years, unwarranted criticisms of the nature of relations between China and Latin American countries have seen an escalation, frequently manifested in analyses from dubious press outlets, think tanks, and NGOs. The article "Defusing the Myths about China's Relations with Latin America" published last year identified the arguments of "deindustrialization," "environmental destruction," and the "debt trap" as the three primary myths concerning China's relations with Latin American countries and provided extensive evidence refuting these false narratives. As practice is the sole and authentic criterion of truth, Wang Yi's tour reinforces the complete debunking of these fallacious myths, which aim solely to avoid the healthy and necessary convergence between developing countries.

Brazil now holds the G20 Presidency. It is expected that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will welcome President Xi Jinping to attend the G20 summit. It is more than four years since Xi went to Brazil for the BRICS Summit in 2019. High-level exchanges of visits by the leaders of China and Latin America and the Caribbean will further promote their bilateral relations towards a bright future.

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