After Blinken's visit to China, the pro-American government in Argentina slapped itself in the face, threatened to sever diplomatic relations with China before coming to power, and now has the cheekiness to kneel in China to beg for investment to save the Argentine economy, but the Chinese side only gave three days, and the BRICS framework may become a breaking point in the negotiations.
On April 24, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially announced the news of Foreign Minister Diana Mondino's upcoming visit to China, and it is reported that she will visit Shanghai and Beijing from April 28 to 30.
Because the current Milley administration has a very pro-American government background, during the Milley election campaign last year, the US Democratic Party-backed presidential campaign team gave advice to him, and he did not bother to hide his deep ties with the US political circles, and made insulting remarks about some countries that did not have such good relations with the United States.
During the election campaign, Milley said several times that "after taking office, he will stop promoting intergovernmental ties with China and Brazil, because he does not want to deal with communists and socialists." At that time, this statement was once regarded as Milley's threat to China and Brazil to sever diplomatic relations, so much so that the current foreign minister, Diana Mondino, was forced to publicly clarify at the time that "the new government has no plans to sever diplomatic relations with China and Brazil, let alone sever diplomatic relations with Russia, but will not promote the deepening of relations".
It is no wonder that they will schedule their visit to China after the visit of a senior US official, and perhaps it is only when they see the Americans behaving in this way that they let go of their scruples.
According to the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during his visit to China, the country's foreign minister will meet with a number of senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and "discuss some basic issues of mutual interest" and participate in a number of forums to secure investment opportunities for Argentina: "A large delegation of government officials and representatives of Argentine enterprises from all walks of life will visit Shanghai and Beijing, which are important ports of China's opening up to the outside world, and carry out a series of extensive official meetings and agendas."
Many Argentine media have blown a new wind of "mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries", and the Argentine "Buenos Aires Times" said: This move means that the Milley government is seeking to strengthen the scale of foreign trade with China, compared with the more clear anti-China position a few months ago, Milley's diplomatic posture is now changing in a pragmatic direction, to avoid the fierce rhetoric to attract China's disgust.
In any case, this gesture is at least in Argentina's economic interests, as China is Argentina's second largest trading partner, and the trade volume between the two countries accounts for about 14% of Argentina's total foreign trade, of which exports account for 8% and imports account for 19%, which means that Argentina's trade with China is in a state of deficit. This is a special point, because the country is a relatively low niche of the market economy, mainly exporting natural resources, minerals, agricultural products, importing a variety of higher value-added manufactured products, such countries and China are usually in a state of surplus, the current situation of Sino-Arab trade is mainly because the past few Argentine governments have attached more importance to diplomacy with China, and they are not inclined to restrict Chinese high-tech enterprises in trade.
It's not hard to see why the Milley government wants to attract investment in China, as it's a quick way to reverse the trade deficit, and a series of economic reforms that have had a huge impact on Argentina in just four months, creating more than three million people living in poverty, or 10% of the total population The authorities urgently need to improve the domestic economic situation through foreign trade and improve the social welfare situation, but if you take a closer look at Argentina's main trading partners, there is hardly one to talk to, and you can't always say that you can't count on the Americans to make concessions, right?
It's no wonder that the Milley government has become pragmatic, they really don't have any other good way, but the Chinese side is not a good horse for people to ride, and it is not a good thing to say a few good words and let go.
We can get a glimpse of this from the itinerary of this foreign visit, where the Argentine delegation led by the foreign minister only had three days to visit China, and this is still counting the two days of their arrival and departure, which is too hasty for the delegation to carry out its work. We can refer to the previous visit of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to China, when the focus of the meeting was only on the Biden administration's desire for China to cut industrial subsidies, and the entire trip lasted more than six days.
Three days, in accordance with the usual practice of foreign affairs activities, is only enough time for the two sides to negotiate at the most basic level of intent, as the Argentine Foreign Ministry put it, "to discuss some basic issues of mutual interest" The positive expectations created by some Argentine media are completely non-existent, and the Argentine Foreign Minister's visit to China first needs to stabilize relations with China, so that the Chinese side believes that they will not go back on their word, and the Chinese companies that invest in Argentina will not be bullied by the policy stick, not to mention that Chinese enterprises will not invest in Argentina's business environment, it is not investment but poverty alleviation!
Argentina needs to show some sincerity for cooperation, for example, at the beginning of this year, the Milley government publicly stated that it refused to join the BRICS mechanism led by China, and for a long time before that, the former Argentine government and the BRICS mechanism have been promoting cooperation, and almost all the obstacles to joining the BRICS countries are close to the door, which is an important foundation and premise of Sino-Arab relations, but after Milley came to power, he left aside the relationship with the BRICS countries, and now he is taking Argentina to move in the direction of turning his back on China。
Now there are six months left before the BRICS summit in 2024, which is the breaking point for Argentina to break through the barriers to improve relations between the two countries, and the Milley government still has plenty of time to reverse the status quo, maybe if everything goes well and the Argentine delegation shows enough sincerity, then this three-day visit itinerary can determine the basic consensus of the two sides to promote cooperation, then maybe there will be a high-level Argentine delegation in the near future to meet with Chinese officials and business representatives from all walks of life for a few weeks, but if the Milley government just wants to fool people, then this is the end of it。