After giving up joining the BRICS, Argentine President Millay changed his tone toward China, and the Chinese side made two remarks, which are very meaningful. So, a few months after giving up joining the BRICS, how has the tone of the Milley government changed, and how did China respond to the Argentine government's choice?
According to foreign media sources, a few months after giving up joining the BRICS, Argentine President Milley's tone towards China has changed, and he is no longer as "tough" as he was during the election campaign. On April 4, local time, in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, Milley talked about relations with China, claiming that the trade relationship between China and Argentina "has not changed at all", and the new Argentine government has no intention of changing the currency swap agreement between the two countries worth $18 billion.
Compared with the Milley who portrayed China as an "assassin" in August last year, Milley is now much more pragmatic and gentler, at least no longer vehemently opposed to Argentines doing business with China. Some analysts believe that the reason why the Milley government's attitude has changed so much is likely to change Argentina's highly regulated economy, lift the country out of poverty, and curb inflation.
Against this backdrop, it will be difficult for Argentina to "keep China out". Because Chinese trade and investment drive much of Argentina's economy, the Milley government needs to seek help from China to tackle rising inflation. In fact, not only Argentina, but also many Latin American countries and emerging market countries have maintained fairly close economic and trade exchanges with China, but the United States, which once regarded Latin America as its "backyard", is gradually losing control of these "allies".
It is precisely for this reason that in the past few months in office, the Milley government, which has clearly recognized the importance of China, is working hard to repair the "rift" brought about by the withdrawal from the BRICS and the Sino-Arab relations. Now Milley has taken the initiative to change his tone and create a good external environment for China-Arab economic and trade relations, which is obviously also preparing for the next bilateral cooperation.
You know, the reform actions of the new government of Milley have already begun, and the policy of devaluation of the peso is hurting the interests of the Argentine state and the provinces that are stuck in dollar debt. To emerge from the debt crisis, Argentina needs to base its growth on the domestic market, rather than relying solely on exports. In this case, China's experience in promoting economic growth through internal circulation is also worth learning from Argentina.
As things stand, while it is unclear whether the Milley government regrets withdrawing from the BRICS, it is certain that Argentina has recognized the importance of maintaining good trade relations with the BRICS countries, especially China. As some industry experts have said, throwing away the BRICS has narrowed Argentina's international investment channels and worsened Argentina's external economic environment.
I believe that the current Milley government is also very clear that it is undoubtedly very unwise to offend China and Brazil's two major trading partners at the same time and put all the chips on the United States. After all, the prospects for the economic development of the BRICS countries are much better than those of the United States, not to mention that the BRICS group is developing into a "new force" in international affairs.
It is worth mentioning that in response to the Argentine government's renunciation of joining the BRICS, the Chinese side has responded with two words of "profound significance". That is the BRICS cooperation mechanism, which is an important platform for emerging market countries and developing countries to strengthen solidarity and cooperation and safeguard common interests, as well as an open platform. China welcomes any country that wishes to become a member of the BRICS family.
Through this statement, it is not difficult to see that China has no intention of "kidnapping" any country to join the BRICS, nor does it intend to build the BRICS group into a political "small group". This is because the BRICS cooperation mechanism was originally a platform to provide "opportunities" for developing countries and emerging markets to strengthen cooperation, rather than a political and military alliance. China always respects the choice of the Arab side and will not interfere with any country's accession to or withdrawal from BRICS, but China hopes that more countries will recognize the essence of the BRICS mechanism and embark on a path of win-win cooperation.