On December 10, local time, the new Argentine President Javier Milley officially took office, and at the same time, his attitude towards China is also quietly changing.
As the Argentine version of Trump, Milley is notable not only for his trademark Trump-esque rhetoric, but also for his radical liberal policies. On his first day in office, he cut off a number of government departments, leaving only nine of the 18 departments. Recently, there has also been a change in his China policy.
When he won the first round of the election in August, Milley made it clear that Argentina's geopolitical allies were the United States and Israel, that he would not ally with any communist country, and that Argentina would stop joining the BRICS.
After Milley was elected president in November, Mondino, who he nominated as foreign minister, also said in an interview that Argentina would stop cooperating with China.
However, on December 12, a senior Argentine official broke the news to the media that Milley sent a letter to the Chinese side, hoping that the Chinese side could support and speed up the currency swap between the two countries.
In addition, the official also revealed to the media that Milley had earlier met with an official delegation from China, and the two sides held talks.
It has been learned that the special envoy of the mainland leader and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress attended the inauguration ceremony of Milley on 10 December, and the reason why the mainland sent representatives to attend the meeting was because he was invited by the Argentine Government.
Later, on December 11, Milley met with the mainland delegation, and Milley expressed to the Chinese side that he attaches great importance to the relations between China and Argentina, and that Argentina will continue to pursue the one-China principle, and hopes that the two countries can continue to carry out in-depth cooperation and exchanges in the economic, trade, and people-to-people fields.
From anti-China to seeking cooperation with China, Milley's attitude towards China can be said to have made a 180-degree turn, and the reason for this is inseparable from the current grim economic situation in Argentina.
Argentina is not only facing extremely high inflation, but also saddled with $45 billion in IMF arrears.
According to the data released by the International Monetary Fund, by the end of this summer, Argentina's foreign exchange reserves were about $20 billion, but if you add various external debts, this figure will become more than negative $10 billion, that is, Argentina simply cannot come up with the money to repay its debts on time.
In this case, the previous Argentine government came up with a way to convert the Argentine peso into yuan and then use it to pay the arrears, which was one of the reasons why the previous government reached a currency swap agreement with China.
In June this year, Argentina used the renminbi for the first time, repaying $2.7 billion in IMF arrears on time, and also used the renminbi in July and for repayment.
In this case, the idea of Milley wanting to disconnect from cooperation with China is simply unrealistic.
As Argentina's largest export market for agricultural products and the second largest trading partner, Argentina's economy cannot get out of the predicament without China's help, and the economic ties between China and Argentina cannot be broken off by words.