Gabriel Boric, 36, was sworn in as Chile's youngest president ever.
Boric has many eye-catching labels: feminist, ecological conservation movement supporter, fan of American singer Taylor Swift... And change is undoubtedly his most appealing trait to voters.
Public opinion foundation: the main "change card"
In the second round of voting for the Chilean presidential election held on December 19 last year, Boric received about 55.86% of the vote to be elected the new President of Chile. Boric, a former leader of the student movement and a member of the House of Representatives, advocated changes to Chile's neoliberal development model, reform of the tax system, and abolition of the system of pensions managed by private enterprises.
On the evening of December 19, 2021, in the center of Santiago, chile's capital, Gabriel Boric addressed the public for the first time as Chile's president-elect. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jorge Villegas)
Lu Sijian, an associate researcher at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that on a deeper level, his election proves that the concept of change is deeply rooted in Chile.
After Pinochet's military coup in 1973, a group of economists with a Chicago School background were reused to start a neoliberal experiment in Chile. For years, Chile has been hailed as one of The Most Stable and Prosperous Economies in Latin America. However, behind the economic development brought about by the neoliberal model, the privatization and marketization of basic social security areas such as pensions, medical care, and education have brought about a series of depressions, class solidification and uneven distribution have become increasingly serious, and popular dissatisfaction has gradually accumulated.
In October 2019, public transport fares rose in Santiago, Chile's capital, igniting long-simmering social tensions, with protests and riots spreading across the country. Against this backdrop, Boric came out of nowhere, playing the "change card" in elections, representing a left-wing party in defeating right-wing party candidate Custer.
Governance prospects: Reform is not a smooth path
Lu Sijie believes that Boric's changes to the neoliberal development model will be mainly reflected in the promotion of constitutional reform, tax reform, and improvement of social welfare.
Politically, constitutional reform has been at the top of the Chilean government's agenda in recent years. The current Constituent Assembly has a clear leftist tendency, but the new Boric government still needs to reconcile the interests of all parties in the discussion of the constitutional text. According to the relevant schedule, the new draft constitution is expected to be concluded in the first year of Boric's term. The Constitution of Chile, written during the Pinochet era, is the basis of the neoliberal model of economic development, and its formulation is not only significant for Boric's administration, but also has a profound impact on Chile's future.
On the evening of December 19, 2021, supporters of Chilean President-elect Bolic gathered in the center of the capital Santiago to await the celebration of Boric's victory. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jorge Villegas)
Economically, raising the tax burden on high-income groups and extractive industries is the focus of The Boric administration's reforms and a major measure to improve the gap between the rich and the poor. At present, Boric has begun to consciously withdraw from the radical ideas put forward in the early stage, and the real "landing" measures will not be too extreme, but will be based on the principle of pragmatism, with economic growth and investment attraction as the main goal.
At the level of social security, the new government will continue to promote the reform of the pension system, further increase the pension advance through legislation, and strive to reform the personal account model of private enterprises managing pensions under the neoliberal model, and set up state-owned institutions to manage pensions.
Lu Sijian pointed out that the uncertainty and negative expectations of investors on the market due to regime change, the intensification of the polarization of the political pattern, and the high expectations of the public for the fulfillment of the promise of the new regime campaign will pose a considerable degree of governance pressure and governance challenges to Boric in the medium and long term.
Diplomatic trends: more emphasis on autonomy
At present, mexico, Argentina and Chile, the three major countries in the Latin American region, have "turned left", while Brazil will hold a general election in October this year. If Lula, a leftist with a strong voice in Brazil, can successfully run and win, Latin America will completely enter a new cycle of left-wing governance. How Boric will manage relations with left- and right-wing countries to achieve what he calls goals such as promoting regional integration is attracting attention.
In a speech to the public on the 11th, Boric said that Chile is facing many challenges such as fighting the epidemic, restoring the economy, and responding to a complex international environment. The new administration will remain autonomous in foreign policy and work with other Latin American countries to address global challenges.
Lu Sijian believes that in terms of foreign policy, the political voice of the current Chilean government to seek a path of independence and self-determination will be significantly stronger than that of previous governments. The new government will maintain close ties with regional progressive left forces, but attitudes toward Venezuela, Nicaragua and other countries within the ruling coalition are divided, and Boric will continue to seek a balance. On issues such as how to deal with world powers, regional cooperation and integration, the Boric government may gradually dilute its ideology, consider its own development interests, and return to the pragmatic and central line.
At present, China is Chile's largest trading partner, and trade with China accounted for 38.3% and 29.5% of Chile's exports and imports last year. In recent years, the two sides have achieved results in anti-epidemic cooperation, bilateral trade has grown strongly against the trend, and cooperation in emerging industries such as digital economy and scientific and technological innovation has shown a high degree of complementarity.
On March 23, 2021, Chilean Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Ute (center) visited The Chinese rail train in santiago, the capital, and praised the arrival of the vehicles as one of the "most important milestones in the development of the railway" in Chile in recent years. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jorge Villegas)
According to a previous statement by Boric's campaign, Chile will build a "strategic but neutral" relationship with China. Lu Sijian believes that on the one hand, the new Chilean government will continue to consolidate and deepen bilateral relations with China, and the two countries will continue to benchmark the development of new formats, and the general trend of continuous deepening cooperation will not change. On the other hand, the new Chilean government may pay more attention to the investment disputes of Chinese enterprises in Chile and pay attention to safeguarding the interests of its own economy. (Reporter: Li Jiarui; Editors: Sun Ping, Tang Zhiqiang)