China-Chile ties gain pace via continuity

Chile-China relations have maintained remarkable continuity over the past decade, with growing trade and investment underpinning a stable partnership across successive Chilean governments, experts say.

The assessment came as Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Perez Mackenna visited China last week. He said Chile's new government stands ready to intensify high-level exchanges with China, strengthen people-to-people bonds, enhance industrial chain connectivity, and expand cooperation in scientific and technological innovation, AI and talent training.

The visit coincides with the 10th anniversary of the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership, as they seek to expand cooperation in AI, the digital economy, scientific research, human capital and supply chains.

"I would read the past 10 years as a story of continuity rather than transformation, and the continuity is itself the most significant result," said Francisco Urdinez, an associate professor at the institute of political science of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.

"Four governments with sharply different ideological positions (under presidents) Bachelet, Pinera, Boric and now Kast have kept essentially the same line toward Beijing," Urdinez said. "Very few areas of Chilean foreign policy survive alternation that intact."

That continuity is most evident in economic ties, with China becoming Chile's largest trading partner and a major destination for its exports.

"The numbers give the outline," Urdinez said, noting that the 2017 upgrade of the bilateral free trade agreement and successive sanitary protocols helped expand Chilean exports to China beyond copper to products including cherries.

Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador to China, said Perez Mackenna's visit came at an important moment in ties, as this year also marks the 20th anniversary of the China-Chile free trade agreement.

"During this period, bilateral trade has increased eightfold, reaching $67 billion in 2025, making China Chile's No 1 trading partner and the destination for 40 percent of its exports," Heine said.

Chinese investment in Chile has also expanded over the past decade, particularly in mining, energy, infrastructure and agribusiness, he said.

Urdinez said the deeper shift had been in investment, with Chinese capital moving from buying Chilean goods to owning infrastructure in the country.

The evolution of economic ties has been underpinned by a long history of political and diplomatic engagement.

Chile was the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations with the New China, in 1970, and every Chilean president since its transition to democracy in 1990 has visited China, some several times, Heine said.

Against this backdrop, Urdinez said the significance of Perez Mackenna's visit went beyond concrete deliverables.

It marked the first substantive contact between President Jose Antonio Kast's government and Beijing, while sending the foreign minister to China demonstrated the importance Santiago attaches to the relationship, he said.

"Sending the foreign minister to Beijing in August, and framing China as a fundamental partner, is a signal that the relationship is treated as state policy rather than as an inheritance from the previous administration," he added.

During the visit, the two sides also discussed plans to reactivate the bilateral strategic economic dialogue next year, Urdinez said.

"I would separate what is aspirational from what is actually happening," he said, identifying services, agriculture and digital sectors as areas where the two countries could make practical progress.

"Where I do see plausible movement is in services, agricultural protocols for new products, and potentially in data centers and digital services, where Chile has genuine advantages in renewable generation, regulatory stability and connectivity," he said.

Heine said the strength of bilateral ties also reflected a broader trend in China-Latin America relations.

Perez Mackenna's visit coincides with visits to China by the leaders of Ecuador and El Salvador, he said, noting that China-Latin American trade reached a record $307 billion in the first half of this year.