China & Latin America news, updates, ...

[ahojunk]

Xi arrives in Ecuador, kicking off third LatAm visit since 2013
2016-11-18 07:53 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Thursday afternoon, kicking off a state visit to Ecuador and his third visit to Latin America since he took office in 2013.

Besides Ecuador, the week-long tour will also take him to Peru and Chile. In Peru, Xi will attend the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting from Nov. 19 to 20 in the capital city of Lima.

Xi's Quito trip is the first state visit by a Chinese head of state to Ecuador in 36 years since the two countries forged diplomatic relations in 1980.

In a speech delivered at the airport after arrival, the top Chinese leader said Ecuador is an important country in Latin America, adding that the two nations have enjoyed long-running friendship while recent years have seen substantial development of their bilateral ties and ever enhancing political mutual trust.

He also said that the practical cooperation between the two sides have been fruitful and the two countries have supported each other on international and regional affairs.

Xi believes that this visit will achieve positive results and serve as a new and firm bridge to promote the friendly cooperation between the two countries and to open up brighter prospects for bilateral ties.

In his speech to welcome President Xi at the airport, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa appreciates China's support for his country's economic and social development.

He also said the cooperation between the two countries in economy and trade, energy, agriculture, infrastructure construction and finance has been rather fruitful, adding that he believes that Xi's visit will lift bilateral ties to a new stage.

Ecuador hopes President Xi's "historic" visit leads to strengthening strategic ties, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Guillaume Long told Xinhua ahead of the visit, adding that "the ties with China in recent years have been very fruitful, very significant."

Since President Correa came into power in 2007, Ecuador has focused on deepening ties with China. The Ecuadorian president's first official trip to Beijing took place in the same year of his inauguration, to bolster cooperation with China in different fields, from energy, science and technology, to economy, trade and education.

In 2015, during his second China visit, Correa and Xi agreed to elevate bilateral ties to the level of a strategic partnership.

"China views and grows its relations with Ecuador from a strategic and long-term perspective," President Xi said in a signed article on Ecuador's leading newspaper El Telegrafo on Wednesday, one day before his visit.

Despite the long distance, China has become Ecuador's third largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching 4.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, quadrupling in just 10 years.

And Ecuador is now a major destination for Chinese investment and financing in Latin America. Chinese investment and financing in Ecuador has exceeded 10 billion dollars, supporting hundreds of projects including major infrastructure projects such as the Coca Codo Sinclair hydropower plant, seven other hydropower plants and a dozen of highways.

"I look forward to having in-depth exchanges with President Correa and friends from various sectors of Ecuador to take China-Ecuador relations to a new height," Xi said in the article. (Updated at 11:25 a.m. Beijing Time)

 

[Shotgunner51]

As Trump Talks Wall, China Builds Bridges to Latin America
By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press
November 18, 2016 3:32 AM

China's President Xi Jinping, center, and his wife Peng Liyuan stand with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, second from right, during a welcoming ceremony at Mariscal Sucre Airport in Quito, Ecuador, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. Xi Jinping is in Ecuador for two days before heading to Peru for the APEC summit. Ana Buitron AP Photo ​

LIMA, Peru — An expected U.S. economic retreat from Latin America under Donald Trump is causing the region's leaders to look halfway around the world, to China, for help weathering the possible financial headwinds.

They'll have the perfect opportunity to make their appeal this week when Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a Pacific Rim summit as part of a visit to Ecuador, Peru and Chile.

This is Xi's third time in Latin America since taking office in 2013, and when he wraps up the tour he will have visited 10 countries in the region — the same number as President Barack Obama, who has been in office twice as long.

Trump on the campaign trail pledged to break up trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, deport illegal migrants and build a wall to keep out millions from Mexico and Latin America, sending shockwaves across a region that for two centuries has looked northward for policy guidance.

Over the past decade China has displaced the U.S. as the main trading partner in country after country in Latin America as demand for the region's soybeans, oil and iron ore fueled the fastest growth in decades.

Some of China's priorities and growing prowess in the region will be on display during Xi's trip.

In Ecuador, a dollarized-economy that is battling a deep recession, Xi will inaugurate on Friday the country's biggest hydroelectric dam, which was built by a Chinese firm and paid for with some of the nearly $8 billion lent to the country since 2007.​

Of the eight hydropower stations under construction or finished, seven were built by Chinese firms, which has helped turn the once energy-poor country into an energy exporter.​

From there he heads to Peru, to attend a summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group and a meeting with President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former Wall Street investor who nonetheless chose China for his first foreign trip after taking office in July. The weeklong tour wraps up in Chile, which recently opened a branch of a state-run Chinese bank that will be South America's first clearinghouse for transactions in the tightly-controlled yuan.

Elsewhere, in Venezuela, the head of state-run China National Petroleum Corporation on Thursday signed a $2.2 billion accord to jointly boost oil production needed to lift the OPEC nation out of a crisis marked by severe food shortages and triple-digit inflation.

"All of our thanks for all of the support given Venezuela in the difficult years, 2014, 2015 and especially 2016," a visibly pleased President Nicolas Maduro said at the signing ceremony. "Our older sister China has not left Venezuela alone in these difficult times."​

While Trump's victory has all but killed the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would've included Mexico, Peru and Chile, China continues to court the region with offers to strengthen existing free trade agreements with Costa Rica, Chile and Peru as well as negotiate new ones with Uruguay and Colombia. In the past decade, China's two biggest development banks have pumped in $125 billion to Latin America — more than the Washington-based World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank combined.

Xi, in a column for El Comercio newspaper, referred to the emerging ties with Peru as a "win-win" relationship encompassing areas as diverse as investment in infrastructure and energy to the shared heritage represented by the beloved "chifa" cuisine created by Chinese immigrants a century ago.

To be sure, a U.S.-China trade war would have ripple effects across Chinese industry that would also depress demand for Latin America's raw materials.

But for now Chinese businessmen attending the APEC summit see nothing but potential.

Tang Ning, founder and CEO of wealth manager and micro-lender CreditEase, said Brazil and other parts of Latin America are ripe for venture capital in the same way China was 20 years ago. Nonetheless, he cautions that Trump's disruptive election is not a driver of its interest in Washington's backyard.

"We take a very long-term view," said Tang in an interview. Politics "isn't a major part of our conversation."​

Read the full article at
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article115583808.html
http://www.ecns.cn/2016/11-17/234265.shtml

 

[maximuswarrior]

LMAO The Americans are losing allies left and right. Trump the maniac screwed up with Latinos and Muslims during the election. How are they now going to stop China from capturing other continents? Place sanctions or disallow those nations from doing business with China? LMAO Too bad for the US with a mad leader like Trump.

 

[TaiShang]

The way the US abused its post-Cold War unipolar moment was going to come and haunt them.

Now it is coming and began to haunt them.

China just happens to be the right actor at the right time with the right diplomacy. It does not have to offer to save the world (it won't), it simply shows that the world can in fact save itself from the accustomed affairs of unbridled hegemony that has brought wars and destruction.

 

[Shotgunner51]

Saturday, Nov 19, 2016 02:45 AM +0800
The Latest: Ecuador, China launch big power plant
The Associated Press, Associated Press
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/18/the-latest-ecuador-china-launch-big-power-plant/

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The Latest on the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (all times local): 1:20 p.m.

The presidents of Ecuador and China are celebrating expanding economic ties between their nations, jointly launching a Chinese-backed hydroelectric plant. The two set the plant operating from a remote control board in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito. The Coca Codo Sinclair plant has a capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts in the Amazon region province of Orellana. That’s equal to 30 percent of the country’s power consumption.

 

[AndrewJin]

Saturday, Nov 19, 2016 02:45 AM +0800
The Latest: Ecuador, China launch big power plant
The Associated Press, Associated Press
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/18/the-latest-ecuador-china-launch-big-power-plant/

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The Latest on the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (all times local): 1:20 p.m.

The presidents of Ecuador and China are celebrating expanding economic ties between their nations, jointly launching a Chinese-backed hydroelectric plant. The two set the plant operating from a remote control board in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito. The Coca Codo Sinclair plant has a capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts in the Amazon region province of Orellana. That’s equal to 30 percent of the country’s power consumption.

View attachment 353389 View attachment 353376 View attachment 353377 View attachment 353378 View attachment 353380 View attachment 353390
View attachment 353391
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wow, tunnel boring machines!

 

[ahojunk]

China, Ecuador lift ties to comprehensive strategic partnership
2016-11-18 10:48 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

China and Ecuador agreed on Thursday to lift the bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The decision was announced during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Ecuador, the first of its kind since the two countries established diplomatic relations 36 years ago.

 

[ahojunk]

China, Ecuador lift ties to comprehensive strategic partnership
2016-11-19 10:29 | Xinhua | Editor: Feng Shuang

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
in Quito, Ecuador, Nov. 17, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)​

China and Ecuador agreed on Thursday to lift bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, in a bid to further strategic mutual trust and win-win cooperation between the two countries.

Speaking to journalists together with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa hours after he arrived in Quito, visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping said the two heads of state have agreed to elevate ties between their countries and make this a new starting point to seek more fruitful results in practical cooperation in various fields.

"We will treat the China-Ecuador relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, and work together with the Ecuadorian side to further development from a new starting point," Xi said.

1ST HISTORIC VISIT BY A CHINESE HEAD OF STATE TO ECUADOR

Xi is on a three-nation Latin American tour, the third of its kind to the continent since he assumed the presidency in March 2013.

The first leg of the week-long tour to Ecuador is the first state visit by a Chinese president to the country since the two sides established diplomatic ties in 1980.

Already, the visit had been described as "historic" in Quito.

"The establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership is of historic significance," Correa said when meeting the press. He said the bilateral relationship has reached an "unprecedented" level.

As the world's second-largest economy with a high speed of growth, China can play a very important role in bolstering Ecuador's development, especially against the backdrop of low oil prices, said the Ecuadorian president.

Noting China does not attach any political strings when assisting other countries, Correa told journalists that China is a reliable partner and that cooperation with the Asian country helps consolidate Ecuador's sovereignty, accelerate its industrialization and improve its capability of self-reliant development.

He said his country and China share a lot of common interests and that they can cooperate extensively. "The gate of Ecuador will always be open to you, to the Chinese people," Correa said.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP OF MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL, SUCCESSFUL COOPERATION

Despite a long distance separating the two countries, cooperation between China and Ecuador in trade and finance has yielded great success in recent years.

The two countries established a strategic partnership in 2015 during Correa's second visit to China. China is currently the third largest trade partner of Ecuador, while the latter is now a major destination for Chinese investment and financing in Latin America, with two-way trade reaching 4.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, quadrupling in just 10 years.

In his talks with Correa earlier on Thursday, Xi said Ecuador is an important country in Latin America, adding that bilateral ties have witnessed substantial development in recent years.

Xi said that since 2015, mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides has seen rapid development in a wide range of areas, with the scale of collaboration continuing to increase.

Bilateral ties have since been greatly enriched and picking up momentum toward comprehensive development, he said.

RELATIONS ENTER NEW PHASE, HERALDING BRIGHTER PROSPECTS

The Chinese president said China-Ecuador relations have now entered a key phase where cooperation between the two countries is of greater importance to both sides.

China will continue to support Ecuador in exploring a development path that suits its own conditions, and will actively take part in Ecuador' s post-earthquake reconstruction work, he said. China is also willing to reinforce pragmatic cooperation with the Ecuadorian side in all areas, comprehensively step up the integration of interests of both sides, expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and open up brighter prospects for bilateral ties, Xi said.

He went on to pledge support for Ecuador's presidency of the Group of 77 (G77) next year, saying that China is willing to maintain close cooperation with G77 in multilateral affairs.

China will also work with Ecuador to boost overall cooperation with Latin America and push for greater development in China-Latin America relations, he added.

For his part, Correa likened Xi's visit to "a get-together between friends," and said he believes the Chinese president's Ecuador trip will serve to boost bilateral relations and cooperation as well as bring more benefits to people on both sides.

Ecuador has always pursued a one-China policy, and is committed to strengthening exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in political, economic as well as cultural and people-to-people fields, Correa said.

Also on Thursday, Xi and Correa witnessed the signing of a string of cooperation agreements in the areas of production capacity, investment, industrial parks, economic technologies, judiciary and media.

President Xi will leave for Peru and Chile after finishing his state visit to Ecuador. He will also attend the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, capital of Peru.

NEW STARTING POINT TO DEEPEN TRUST, WIN-WIN COOPERATION

In their talks, the two presidents agreed to make the elevation of bilateral ties a new starting point to deepen strategic mutual trust, seek greater achievements in mutually beneficial cooperation and boost the healthier and faster development of bilateral ties.

Liu Yuqin, former Chinese ambassador to Ecuador, said the decision to elevate bilateral ties represents the positive response of the two countries' top leaders to the calls for more pragmatic and win-win cooperation in all fields.

"The official endorsement has always been an essential element in boosting bilateral exchanges," Liu said.

The former ambassador said one of the most notable highlights of bilateral exchanges was the construction of hydroelectric stations by Chinese companies in Ecuador, a country rich in hydropower but hungry for energy due to the lack of infrastructure and financial and technological support.

"Take Coca Codo Sinclair (CCS) hydroelectric station for instance, the project is the largest of its kind in South America. Together with other stations built by Chinese companies, the CCS will make the country self-sufficient in clean power and become an electricity exporter. That means a lot to Ecuador's economic development and people's wellbeing," Liu said.

Wu Baiyi, director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the tenacity of Chinese-made projects enhanced Ecuador's confidence in China and its technological edge.

EARTHQUAKE RELIEF, RECONSTRUCTION AID PROMOTES FRIENDSHIP

Bilateral amity was further enhanced after Ecuador was hit by a devastating earthquake in April this year, which killed close to 700 people, injured nearly 5,000 more and displaced 80,000. China was one of the first countries to supply humanitarian aid immediately after the quake.

China also provided cash support of two million dollars and humanitarian aid worth 9.2 million dollars to Ecuador after the fatal quake.

Chinese companies in Ecuador also dispatched staff and resources to the affected regions to participate in the disaster relief and humanitarian aid.

Correa said the Ecuadorian side appreciates China's firm support in its quake relief and post-quake construction work.

According to Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Guillaume Long, China has offered the most aid and support to his country in the immediate hours after the quake.

Daniel Santos with Ecuador's Disaster Relief and Reconstruction Commission said that China's helping hand will further promote friendship between the two countries.

The ambitious CCS project, constructed by the Chinese company Sinohydro, is expected to meet 44 percent of Ecuador's energy demand.

Power generated by the plant played a key role in Ecuador's quake relief in the wake of the April earthquake.

 

[TaiShang]

 

[Huan]

From now, at anytime in the future, will these Latin American countries feel any sort of pressure to sign any Free Trade Agreements with USA under Trump if he has a change of heart? Yes or No? Since they have China as a good backup to rely on now.

 

[Beidou2020]

Border wall is absolutely necessary. No country would tolerate mass entry of millions of low class illegals that bring only bad things.

China would build a wall too if literally millions of illegals enter China and commit murders, rapes and bring drugs crossing the border. Not to mention those same illegals taking away jobs from local Chinese.

These low class immigrants and refugees are completely destroying the US, UK, and Europe.

UK and US have stood up by choosing Brexit and Trump respectively.

 

[TaiShang]

Border wall is absolutely necessary. No country would tolerate mass entry of millions of low class illegals that bring only bad things.

China would build a wall too if literally millions of illegals enter China and commit murders, rapes and bring drugs crossing the border. Not to mention those same illegals taking away jobs from local Chinese.

These low class immigrants and refugees are completely destroying the US, UK, and Europe.

UK and US have stood up by choosing Brexit and Trump respectively.

I agree. Trump is advocating a rational solution. If this physical wall translates into building walls around their military industrial complex around the world and interventionism, it would be great for the rest of world as well as the US.

China should never fall into the trap of liberal humanitarianism (although, I see EU's and US acceptance of refugees not as an act of humanitarianism, but as an attempt to have leverage over countries/region they accept refugees from) and accept open borders. This is actually quite impossible given China's own population size and cultural uniqueness.

China will continue to uphold nation-state and this is pretty much East Asian characteristics. Hence, our regionalism has followed a different path from that of the EU. It won't change anytime soon.

I am, however, in strong favor of greater permeability among the Confucius East Asia (CN-JP-KR-VN), which is the historical core.

 

[Shotgunner51]

I agree. Trump is advocating a rational solution. If this physical wall translates into building walls around their military industrial complex around the world and interventionism, it would be great for the rest of world as well as the US.

China should never fall into the trap of liberal humanitarianism (although, I see EU's and US acceptance of refugees not as an act of humanitarianism, but as an attempt to have leverage over countries/region they accept refugees from) and accept open borders. This is actually quite impossible given China's own population size and cultural uniqueness.

China will continue to uphold nation-state and this is pretty much East Asian characteristics. Hence, our regionalism has followed a different path from that of the EU. It won't change anytime soon.

I am, however, in strong favor of greater permeability among the Confucius East Asia (CN-JP-KR-VN), which is the historical core.

Nice write-up!

 

[Meengla]

The way the US abused its post-Cold War unipolar moment was going to come and haunt them.

Now it is coming and began to haunt them.

Because when an oligarchy supported by MSM and extremely powerful lobbies gets too entrenched then horrible decisions like the 2003 invasion of Iraq happen--decisions which were patently against American and world interests.

The common American is suffering because of these vested interests but they were made to vote in fear (for Trump) then for hope (Bernie Sanders).

Chinese should capitalize on the self-inflicted political paralysis and confusion inside America.

 

[Shotgunner51]

Latin America and China
A Golden Opportunity
China’s president ventures into Donald Trump’s backyard
Nov 19th 2016 | BEIJING, BUENOS AIRES, SANTIAGO AND SÃO PAULO

GEOPOLITICS waits for no man, not even the United States’ president-elect. Little more than a week after Donald Trump’s victory, Xi Jinping, president of the world’s second-largest economy, set off for Latin America—his third trip there since 2013—clutching a sheaf of trade deals. They were proposed long before the change of government in Washington. But at a time when the image of the big, bad yanqui seems to be making a comeback, Mr Xi may find himself with an opportunity to boost Chinese influence in the American backyard.

China’s aims in the region are expansive. In 2015 it signed a slew of agreements with Latin American countries promising to double bilateral trade to $500bn within ten years and to increase the total stock of investment between them from $85bn-100bn to $250bn. China also wants good relations in order to diversify its sources of energy, to find new markets for its infrastructure companies and to project power, both soft and military, in the western hemisphere.

Four raw materials — copper, iron, oil and soyabeans — account for three-quarters of the region’s exports to China, a greater share than they do of trade with the rest of the world. In 2010-13, 90% of Chinese investment went to natural resources.​

As Latin American expectations are changing, so too is the pattern of Chinese investment. Recent investments have branched out.

• In September this year China’s State Grid bought a 23% stake in CPFL, a Brazilian energy utility, for $1.8bn.
• WTorre, a Brazilian construction company, signed a deal with China Communications and Construction Company International to build a port in Maranhão, a north-eastern state.
• Chinese financial firms are getting involved. Fosun, an investment company, recently bought a controlling stake in Rio Bravo, an asset manager in São Paulo.
• Last year Bank of Communications bought 80% of BBM, a Brazilian lender, for 525m reais ($174m).

China has its own reasons for wanting change. Many of its biggest trade deals have been with left-wing governments, which initially saw China as an anti-imperialist sugar daddy. Chinese loans over the past decade have fed that expectation. They went mainly to four countries that had left-leaning governments for most of the period: Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador. Now China worries that bankrupt Venezuela, which hews doggedly to self-destructive populism, may not repay its debts. And it wants to improve its standing with new, business-friendly governments in Argentina and Brazil.

To dispel the notion that it is mainly a friend of the left, China is offering free-trade agreements (FTAs) with more open economies. It already has such deals with Peru, Chile and Costa Rica. Last year China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, went to Colombia to talk about one. On his trip this month Mr Xi wants to expand the FTA that China signed with Chile in 2005. In October Uruguay’s president, Tabaré Vázquez, went to China to talk about an FTA. That prompted the other members of Mercosur, a four-nation trading block led by Brazil, to consider joint efforts to reach a group-wide trade agreement with China.​

The death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), from which Mr Trump has said he will withdraw, may also prove an opportunity. China is hoping to use a meeting in Peru of 21 Pacific Rim economies to boost the prospects of its TPP-alternative, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes India and Japan, but not the United States.​

Luckily for China, Latin America’s recent turn to the political centre implies greater pragmatism rather than hostility to the People’s Republic. It has made Brazil and Argentina more open to trade and investment, reckons Alicia Bárcena, the head of the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America. “So if the Chinese are ready to invest, it should be easier for them.”​

Mr Xi is not just interested in commerce. In his speech to Brazil’s congress in 2014 he talked about a new “strategic partnership”. This time, says Oliver Stuenkel of Fundação Getulio Vargas, a Brazilian university, Mr Xi “will project himself as a stabiliser”, which will do no harm when many leaders are fearful about what a Trump presidency might bring.

In 2015, the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, then president of Argentina, signed a $1bn agreement to buy Chinese fighter jets and ocean-going patrol vessels. The agreement took China’s arms sales on the continent into a new league (until then, except in Venezuela, they had been mostly small scale). She also approved a deal giving the Chinese the right to build a satellite-tracking station in Argentina. After criticising the arrangement before his election in November 2015, the new president, Mauricio Macri, has given it the go-ahead.​

The base is in Neuquén province in Patagonia. Yu Xueming, the project’s manager, says the site has no military purpose and is designed as part of a lunar mission to be launched in 2017. But satellite experts say its parabolic antennae could have military uses, too. The facility’s operator is a unit of the People’s Liberation Army, the name for all of China’s military services. The site is due to become operational next March.​

China, it seems, is in Latin America for the long haul. And while it is there, it can keep one eye on the neighbouring giant to the north.


Read more at http://www.economist.com/news/ameri...res-donald-trumps-backyard-golden-opportunity