According to the global network, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 23rd that Argentine Foreign Minister Mondino will visit China from April 28 to April 30. Blinken's visit to China ended on April 26, and it can be said that Mondino followed Blinken's visit.
According to information revealed by the Argentine media, Mondino will visit Shanghai and Beijing respectively, hold talks with a number of senior Chinese officials, and will also attend a forum on investment in Argentina in China. In addition, the Mondeo delegation to China was very large, because there would be not only senior officials of the Argentine government, but also representatives of Argentine companies from various fields, all of whom had the same goal of continuing to expand the sales of their products in the Chinese market.
The implication is that Mondino and a large group of people from Wu Yang came to China for one and only one purpose, that is, to seek to develop economic and trade relations with China, increase exports to China, and at the same time stimulate Chinese investment in Argentina.
But we know that last year, during the election campaign, the incumbent Argentine President Millay threatened not to seek to develop relations with China and Brazil, and in addition to that, he even shouted that he would sever ties with China and Russia after taking office.
Argentine Foreign Minister Mundino
However, after officially taking office, Milley immediately ran into trouble. In Argentina, Milley embarked on drastic economic reforms, abolishing government departments, eliminating social benefits, and even drastically cutting spending on social security. In the final analysis, this is to save money and fund Milley's "shock therapy" to ensure that Milley's economics can be carried out.
However, the Sino-Arab relations have been unleashed in a big way, and even made insulting remarks on the Taiwan issue, which has led to the fact that Sino-Arab economic and trade relations have been affected by the cold diplomatic relations between the two countries. Since we are not clear about the attitude of the Milley government towards China, we have shelved the local currency swap plan between China and Argentina on the 46.5 billion yuan, and this measure of the Chinese side has directly hit Milley's seven inches, so after that, Milley's attitude towards China has softened significantly. When interviewed by foreign media, he began to adopt a more pragmatic attitude when it came to relations with China, and no longer made some fierce remarks.
Because in addition to the Chinese side shelving the local currency swap program, the Milley government is also aware that the Chinese market and investment are far more important to the Argentine economy than they could have imagined. None of Argentina's agricultural exports, foreign investment, commodities, and energy finance can be completely separated from China, and even a considerable part of the industry's growth and export are almost completely dependent on the Chinese market.
Milley
So the Milley government must find a new balance between so-called "liberalism" and "economic reality". In particular, Milley's liberal and shock therapy will have to rely on China for help if Argentina is to get out of its economic crisis once and for all. Therefore, the change in the Milley government's attitude toward China relations is expected and a choice to recognize reality.
The visit of Argentine Foreign Minister Mundino to China this time is to a large extent aimed at repairing the gap in Sino-Arab relations caused by Milley, especially the announcement by the Milley government that it will not join the BRICS and its statement on the Taiwan issue, which has created political obstacles to the development of China-Arab economic and trade relations.
Of course, the current change in the relationship between the Milley government and China does not mean that Milley's governing philosophy has changed fundamentally, but that he has become more pragmatic. When Milley campaigned, he expounded his governing philosophy, and at the same time, it was also used as his own campaign "gimmick". At that time, Millet was a "political amateur", but after taking office, he had to consider the problems in the national interests of Argentina. In other words, the Milley government's attempt to ease relations with China does not mean that its own governing philosophy has changed, but is simply the product of a trade-off between ideals and reality.
Sino-Arab relations
This also means that the future Milley government will not remain on a sideline between China and the West. This was confirmed before the Argentine Foreign Ministry announced Mondino's visit to China.
On April 19, Argentina formally submitted an application to NATO, hoping to become a "global partner" of NATO. The request was made by Argentine Defense Minister Luiz during a meeting with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea. Mircia said that NATO welcomes Argentina's accession to NATO, and Argentina becoming a NATO partner country will be able to help Argentina acquire more technology, more military security training, etc.
But the reality is that there is a bitter conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falklands, and the issue has not been resolved so far. In order for Argentina to become a global partner of NATO, it must have the support of all member states, and in this case, it will be difficult for Argentina to achieve this goal. Even so, Argentina still submitted this application, which is an extension of the Milley government's governing thinking, that is, the general direction of the United States and the West.
From this point of view, although Mondino's visit was aimed at easing relations between China and Argentina, in fact this easing was extremely limited, limited to economic and trade relations, and he was still moving closer to the West in terms of political and strategic choices. Therefore, we still need to be cautious enough on the issue of economic and trade cooperation with Argentina.