Argentina is a very amazing country, once upon a time they also developed very fast, back in the 70s of the last century, their income reached the level of a middle-income country.
However, Argentina has fallen into the middle-income trap, and its economy has been stagnant for a long time, and it is also facing various difficulties such as economic weakness and sharp currency depreciation.
Against this backdrop, some Argentine politicians are also actively looking for some ways to "save the country", one of which is to join the BRICS.
As early as 2015, former Argentine President Cristina said that the BRICS should be further expanded to include other developing countries, and Argentina hopes to join it.
However, since its inception in 2009, the BRICS countries have not admitted new members for a long time, except for the inclusion of South Africa in 2011.
However, in August 2023, the BRICS countries will expand their membership, and Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will be invited to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism.
After joining the BRICS, Argentina also sees a glimmer of hope, after all, the BRICS countries account for 42% of the world's population and 24% of the world's gross domestic product, and many new opportunities can be created through cooperation.
However, these wishes are the wishes of the former president of Argentina, and in November 2023, Argentina has a new president.
The new president, Milley, is known as Argentina's Trump, and many of his practices are very extreme, as soon as he took office, he carried out drastic reforms, which many people called "shock therapy" reforms, and Milley directly repudiated many of the former president's policies, including joining the BRICS.
On November 30, 2023, Argentina's incoming foreign minister, Diana Mondino, posted on social media X that Argentina would not join the BRICS, marking that Argentina has given up on joining the BRICS.
There is actually no surprise in this decision, after all, according to some of Milley's policy trends, he is more inclined to deal with Europe and the United States, and take the initiative to show goodwill with NATO.
According to a report by the global network, on April 18, local time, the Argentine government officially submitted an application document to NATO, hoping to become a "global partner country" of NATO.
In order to join NATO, Argentina has also given a lot of commitments, according to the introduction of the Argentine defense minister, once Argentina joins the so-called "partner countries" of NATO, the Argentine army will conduct military training according to NATO standards. At the same time, in various areas such as technology, equipment, training, etc., the Argentine military hopes to receive support from NATO.
In addition, Argentina will further increase the purchase of some advanced weapons from NATO, before that, President Milley of Gentin hopes to strengthen the construction of the Argentine Air Force, and plans to purchase 24 second-hand American-made F-16 fighters from NATO country Denmark, for which Argentina needs to pay about 300 million US dollars.
Although this is not a large amount, Argentina's finances are currently stretched thin, and it cannot even come up with $300 million.
However, seeing that the little brother of Argentine Milley is so serious, the United States is also constantly tempting, and they also let Argentina taste some sweetness, and the United States agreed to lend Argentina $40 million to help them buy some weapons.
After seeing Milley's approach, I believe that netizens from some countries, including China, Russia, India, Brazil, etc., are not very happy, after all, Argentina kept saying that it wanted to join the BRICS, and when the BRICS organization opened its mouth to allow them to join, they reversed themselves and turned around and joined the arms of NATO, which is very disgusting.
Of course, what is even more offensive is not limited to this, in addition to Argentina breaking away from the BRICS and embracing NATO, they also plan to seek huge financial support from China.
According to some media reports, Argentine Foreign Minister Mondino plans to visit China at the end of April, and no specific information has been disclosed as to the purpose of the Argentine Foreign Minister's visit to China, but many media have speculated that one of the direct purposes of the Argentine Foreign Minister's visit to China is to seek more financial help from China.
However, in recent years, Argentina has signed a currency swap with China due to various reasons such as economic stagnation and high inflation, and there is not much foreign exchange, and the scale of the currency swap between China and Argentina is 130 billion yuan/4.5 trillion pesos by the end of 2023.
These currency swaps are equivalent to a large amount of credit granted by China to Argentina, with which Argentina has successfully repaid a number of loans and avoided default.
For example, in October 2023, Argentina plans to repay the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) foreign debt and interest maturing totaling about $3.4 billion, of which part of the debt will be paid in the equivalent yuan under the currency swap agreement between China and Argentina.
As early as December 2023, the newly inaugurated Argentine President Milley asked China to support and accelerate the currency swap between the two countries and expand the currency swap agreement reached between the previous government and China.
According to some media reports, Argentina hopes to add another 5 billion US dollars to the original currency swap scale, which is about 36 billion yuan.
However, based on the current poor economic and financial situation in Argentina, China has not agreed to expand the scale of currency swaps between the two sides, so it is likely that the Argentine foreign minister's visit to China will conduct more in-depth negotiations on this topic.
According to the previous relationship between China and Argentina, China can consider expanding the scale of bilateral currency swaps, after all, this kind of currency swap is not a simple currency transaction, but more like a kind of credit, when it expires, Argentina has to repay China according to the principal and interest of RMB, we do not have much loss, which can also effectively help Argentina through debt difficulties.
However, Argentina's approach is very unpleasant, while they are seeking China's financial help, they turn their heads and hug NATO's thighs, maybe they may also use currency swaps with China to buy NATO weapons, isn't this eating our rice and smashing our bowls?
It is estimated that China will not agree to expand the scale of currency swaps, and if Argentina insists on going its own way and still takes the initiative to throw itself into NATO's arms, perhaps China may even reduce the scale of currency swaps.
After all, the current balance of the Argentine government's foreign debt is about 400 billion US dollars, and the annual interest repayment alone is a large amount.