Xi Focus: Nurturing overall cooperation between China, Latin America

COMMON DEVELOPMENT

Chancay, a modest city on the Peruvian coast, has been transformed into a megaport equipped with towering cranes and unmanned trucks.

Last November, Xi and his Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte inaugurated the port via video link from the capital Lima, marking the launch of South America's first smart port.

Built in just three years through Chinese-Peruvian collaboration, the port shortens the shipping time across the Pacific by nearly one-third, reduces logistics costs by 20 percent, and is expected to create over 8,000 direct jobs.

Boluarte lauded the project as a bold stride toward "deeper integration and shared prosperity with China" and "a gateway opening Latin America to the vibrant promise of the Asia-Pacific."

Chancay's story is the latest episode in the booming cooperation under the China-CELAC Forum. Across the region, more than 200 Chinese infrastructure projects have been launched -- generating over 1 million jobs.

In Brazil, an ultra-high-voltage transmission project has overcome challenges in delivering clean hydropower over vast distances from the Amazon. In Jamaica, a Chinese-built highway has cut cross-island travel time by more than half, while in Bolivia, satellite collaboration has enabled free television access for half a million households.

Numbers tell a compelling story. Trade between China and the region reached $518.4 billion in 2024, doubling the figure recorded a decade ago. By 2023, Chinese investment in the region had exceeded $600 billion. These figures have exceeded the goals announced by Xi when he and Latin American and Caribbean leaders met in 2014 to plan for closer cooperation.

As the second-largest trading partner of Latin America and the Caribbean, China now has more free trade agreements in the region than anywhere outside Asia.

One such deal with Chile has turned premium cherries into a symbol of thriving cross-Pacific commerce. In 2024, Chile's cherry exports surged 51.4 percent to $3.57 billion -- with over 90 percent going to China.

"The Chinese market has created a positive ripple effect in Chile, generating jobs across the supply chain, from harvesting to packaging," said Hernan Garces Gazmuri, a Chilean cherry producer who moved his family to Shanghai for greater business opportunities.

As Pavel Aleman, a Cuban scholar from the University of Havana, pointed out, China-LAC cooperation is mutually beneficial in essence, with China's economic vitality fueling Latin America's development, while the region plays a vital role in supporting China's continued growth.

"Deeper cooperation between the two sides can help offset the impact of tariff barriers and effectively counter global risks," he said.

Xi's signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has brought China into closer partnership with countries across the vast Pacific. To date, more than 20 countries in the region have joined the Belt and Road cooperation framework, and 10 countries have signed cooperation plans with China under the initiative.

Xi once described Latin America as a natural extension of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road -- an essential pillar of the BRI. He emphasized China's commitment to strengthening cooperation with the region, aligning development strategies and promoting shared growth.

"As we roll out the blueprint for the BRI, we strive to forge a route of cooperation across the Pacific, in order to draw closer the two lands of abundance of China and Latin America and the Caribbean," Xi said in his congratulatory message to the second ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum.

Beyond trade and investment, collaboration between China and this region has also deepened in the fields of science, technology and environmental protection. China has supported joint Earth-resource satellite programs with Brazil, contributing to efforts aimed at curbing deforestation and preserving biodiversity in the Amazon.

Xi said China and Latin America and the Caribbean should promote joint development to contribute to strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the global economy.