By Misión Verdad – Jun 6, 2025During the recent China-CELAC Forum ministerial summit, the president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, delivered a speech clearly demonstrating China’s roadmap toward Latin America and the Caribbean: a long-term strategic agenda aimed at consolidating a community of shared destiny.In his speech, Xi reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to a framework for cooperation based on equality, mutual respect, and shared benefits.From his first words, the Chinese leader struck a warm and symbolic note by recalling that, after 10 years of existence, the China-CELAC Forum has evolved from a diplomatic “sapling” to becoming “an imposing tree,” a reflection of the maturity reached in this relationship.However, the message was not limited to rhetoric. Xi also concretely demonstrated results, political priorities and new lines of financing, investment, and infrastructure, which outline the central place that Latin America occupies in China’s international strategy.He noted, for example, that thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, over 200 infrastructure projects have already been implemented between China and the region, creating more than one million jobs.He focused on concrete advances such as the port of Chancay in Peru, a strategic hub that now connects Latin America with Asia across the Pacific.He also highlighted that bilateral trade surpassed US$500 billion for the first time last year, representing a growth of over 40 times since the beginning of the century.Strategic cooperation agendaPresident Xi then articulated an agenda summarized in five programs:1. Solidarity program: It promises that over the next three years, 300 members of CELAC political parties will be invited annually to China to exchange experiences in governance.2. Development program: Commits a 66 billion yuan credit line to support projects in the region and encourage Chinese investment in sectors such as infrastructure, energy, the digital economy, and artificial intelligence.3. Civilization program: It seeks to strengthen cultural ties through a Latin American and Caribbean Art Season, joint archaeology projects, and the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property.4. Peace program: It strengthens China’s support for the region as a Zone of Peace with new plans for police training, cooperation in cybersecurity, the fight against organized crime, and drug control.5. People’s program: It seeks to foster people-to-people connections between China and Latin Americans and the Caribbean through advanced education programs, visas, tourism, and direct exchanges between the peoples.One of the most notable announcements was the creation of a new line of credit of 66 billion yuan, equivalent to approximately $9.18 billion, intended to finance infrastructure and development projects in CELAC member countries.The significance of this financing lies not only in its volume but also in the fact that it is denominated in yuan, which is part of China’s broader commitment to promoting regional financial cooperation outside the dollar system.In the area of infrastructure, China reaffirmed its commitment to new investments in ports, highways, and energy projects.Cooperation is also expanding into emerging sectors of high strategic value. Beijing has placed particular emphasis on the joint development of clean technologies, 5G telecommunications, artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and cybersecurity.These areas not only aim to modernize Latin American economies but also to integrate them more closely into Chinese technological value chains, creating more sophisticated and lasting interdependence.Despite some setbacks, such as the suspension of specific projects in Chile or the freezing of Panama’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s commitment remains firm.In fact, countries like Colombia have recently expressed their intention to join this initiative, despite open and direct pressure from Washington. This suggests a dynamic of interaction that is still active and adaptive between the Latin American and Caribbean region and China.Taken together, these recent announcements demonstrate that China is not only strengthening its ties with Latin America but is doing so in a structured, diversified, and strategically focused manner.The People’s Republic of China projects itself in the region as a long-term strategic partner that not only strengthens existing ties but also reinforces them with a comprehensive and multisectoral vision.The activation of new cooperation programs, the increase in strategic investments, and the diversification of economic, cultural, political, and security ties reflect a clear intention to consolidate a China-Latin America axis with its own identity, independent of traditional geopolitical pressures.What the numbers showThe figures presented in the European Parliament’s Feb. 25, 2025, report clearly reflect China’s geoeconomic repositioning in Latin America.According to the document entitled “China’s Growing Presence in Latin America: Implications for the European Union,” China has established itself as the third most relevant player in the region, surpassing the European Union (see the following graph) and placing itself only behind the US. Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has intensified its presence through a robust network of bilateral agreements—nearly 1,000 to date—covering strategic sectors such as mining, energy, and agriculture.European Union data shows China’s rise in trade with Latin America and the Caribbean. Photo: European Parliament.One of the key drivers of this expansion is the Belt and Road Initiative. Since 2018, it has become the main channel for promoting infrastructure projects and economic cooperation in Latin America.An infographic published by Inter American Dialogue/Ruiyang Huang highlights the main infrastructure projects financed or directly invested in by China in the region.China is making massive financing and investments in infrastructure in the CELAC region. Photo: Inter American Dialogue/Ruiyang Huang.However, these data do not include other major projects in which Chinese companies are involved, such as the Bogotá Metro, built by China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) and Xi’an Metro Company Limited (Xi’an Metro), with resources provided to the Colombian government by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).It’s worth noting that the IDB, clearly dominated by the US, has been the subject of controversy after the US State Department opposed its financing for this Colombian initiative in collaboration with these Chinese companies. This underscores the magnitude of the struggle over Colombia as a geopolitical space.On another note, trade between China and the CELAC region has reached record levels, with bilateral volume exceeding $500 billion by 2024, while China is consolidating its position as a priority market for Latin American exports of copper, soybeans, oil, and gas.China is looking to Latin America and the Caribbean for products it considers strategic, but is also positioning its goods and services at the same time, increasing its market share.As the European report notes, the US’ shift as the region’s main economic partner is progressive and notable.This could be explained by the loss of installed industrial capacity in the US, geopolitical reasons, and the shift by CELAC countries in search of more advantageous relations.The COVID-19 pandemic also fostered the development and diversification of ties. China sent over 300 million doses of vaccines and nearly 40 million units of medical supplies to the region, strengthening its image as a supportive and humanitarian power.South America stands outIn 2023, this forum conducted research focused exclusively on South America, aiming to diagnose the evolution of trade between this region and China using a comparative method that also considered the behavior of trade with the US.This analysis revealed a quantitative leap in South America’s trade relationship with China, highlighting the particular case of Brazil, whose specific weight as an economic and industrial engine has been decisive in the direction of regional trade flows.The study took 2010 as its starting point, a period in which a progressive consolidation of Chinese foreign policy toward Latin America was already evident. It was driven by key doctrinal precedents such as the publication of the first official Chinese document on Latin America and the Caribbean in 2008, and the implementation of the Cross-Border Trade Settlement Pilot Program for the Yuan in 2009, the purpose of which was to advance the internationalization of its currency.Based on these milestones, 2015 stands out as a turning point in South American foreign trade, as the trade curves between China and the US cross, according to the graphs analyzed.This change coincides with the International Monetary Fund’s recognition of the yuan as part of the Special Drawing Rights basket of currencies, which consolidated the Chinese currency as an official currency alongside the dollar, the euro, the yen, and the pound sterling.That same year, the First Ministerial Meeting of the CELAC-China Forum took place in Beijing, ending with the adoption of the China-Latin American and Caribbean States Cooperation Plan (2015-2019), a roadmap that deepened regional integration within the Belt and Road Initiative. Since then, China’s rise in trade with the South American region has become more noticeable and sustained.Photo: Misión Verdad.Photo: Misión Verdad.In contrast, an analysis of trade flows between the US and South America shows a downward trend since 2014, with an even steeper decline during Donald Trump’s first administration. The imposition of unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, a key country for its oil reserves, marked a turning point in the economic relationship with the region.This decline in trade is also related to the lingering effects of the 2008 global financial crisis, of which the US was the epicenter. Added to this were factors such as falling commodity prices, growing global competition in goods and services, and the new financial facilities offered by China, which, as mentioned above, have had a significant impact on the infrastructure associated with trade activity.From 2016 onward, Chinese exports to South America began to systematically outpace those of the US. This lead widened, especially starting in 2019. Regarding imports, China has maintained a consolidated lead since 2016, while the US experienced a continuous decline since 2018, failing to recover the record lows reached since that year until at least 2022.This pattern reflects a structural shift in the region’s trade ties, with a sustained shift toward the Chinese market and investment.China’s demand for raw materials such as soybeans, food, and oil has significantly benefited the Brazilian economy. In the case of iron, it is vital for the steel industry in China. Meanwhile, the trade conflict between China and the US during the Trump administration led to a reorientation of agricultural trade toward Brazil, particularly soybeans, consolidating its position as a strategic supplier.On the other hand, 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the first free trade agreement (FTA) between China and a Latin American country—a pioneering agreement signed with Chile in 2005.This milestone marked the beginning of a new era in the biregional relationship, characterized by increasingly structural, diversified, and strategic economic cooperation. Since the agreement came into force, bilateral trade between the two countries has increased exponentially: from approximately $2.3 billion in 2002 to $56.91 billion in 2023, representing a nearly 25-fold increase in two decades.This momentum has led China to consolidate a network of free trade agreements with five countries in the region: Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, thus strengthening its position as a key economic partner for Latin America.This expansion strategy was framed within China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which prioritized strengthening ties with countries in the Global South, particularly with the CELAC region.This approach promotes principles such as sovereign equality, mutual benefit, economic openness, technological innovation, and people-centered development, aligning trade advancement with China’s long-term foreign and development policy objectives.In addition, China maintains a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Venezuela, one of the few of its kind between China and other nations in the world, reflecting the exceptional and priority nature of the bilateral relationship.China-CELAC Forum Brings Latin America and China TogetherThis alliance, officially established in 2023, was ratified in May 2025 in Moscow through a meeting between Presidents Nicolás Maduro and Xi Jinping.This translates into multifaceted cooperation spanning sectors such as energy, infrastructure, technology, communications, food, aerospace, and economic development. Together, these elements demonstrate Latin America’s privileged position in China’s international projection, as well as Beijing’s interest in consolidating a solid South-South cooperation framework that can be leveraged in the face of external geopolitical pressures.In this context, the renewed tariff offensive launched by Donald Trump during his second term, which has included punitive increases on strategic products, technological blockades, and threats of secondary sanctions, confirms the trend of an aggressive return to economic protectionism in the US.Washington’s highly aggressive and zigzagging tariff policy is multidirectional. It applies to China but also creates new obstacles for relations between CELAC countries and the US. This creates additional opportunities for China and the CELAC nations.Faced with this reality, President Xi Jinping firmly warned that “there are no winners in tariff or trade wars. Intimidation or hegemony only leads to self-isolation.” With these words, he made it clear that China will not give in to unilateral pressure from the Trump administration, and that it will continue to strengthen its cooperation with Latin America and other regions on the basis of “equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness, and well-being of the people.”Reiterating that independence and autonomy are a “glorious tradition” of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples, Xi called for “jointly defending the sovereign right to development” and resisting pressures that seek to “fragment international trade and condition financing on political alignment.”China’s commitment to a community of shared destiny with Latin America not only challenges the dominant unipolar paradigm but also strengthens the Global South’s capacities to jointly confront the challenges of this defining transformation of the century. (Misión Verdad)Translation: Orinoco TribuneOT/JRE/SF