“China is a very interesting trading partner,” said Javier Milei, who just a year ago described the Chinese government as an “assassin.” They “do not make demands, the only thing they ask is that they not be bothered.”
The US continues to lose economic influence in its own “backyard,” particularly South America, with whom China is already the largest trade partner. Even Javier Milei’s fanatically anti-Communist government in Argentina is now seeking to forge closer economic ties with Beijing as investments begin to dry up. Almost exactly a year after telling Tucker Carlson that he would never trade with China due to its government’s left-wing, authoritarian proclivities, Javier Milei has nothing but fond words for the US’ main strategic rival today.
Alarm bells began flashing in Washington when news emerged that a delegation of senior Argentine ministers, including Karina Milei, the president’s sister who is also general secretary of the presidency, Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, had met with China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, on the side lines of the recent UN General Assembly. According to the Argentine media outlet Infobae, the purpose of that meeting was to relaunch the strategic economic agreement between the two countries:
The Biden administration had thought Milei’s government was beyond Xi Jinping’s influence, but all of a sudden the Argentine president is seeking a rapprochement with the communist regime to renew the Chinese swap line that underpins Argentina’s central bank reserves as well as facilitate investments by Chinese companies in lithium and copper, two minerals that Washington considers globally strategic.
“We have to be careful with how we handle this relationship,” U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said of diplomatic ties between China and the US. “We’re systemic rivals, and I think we’ll be systemic rivals for the next decade, maybe even beyond.”
And Burns added so that there were no doubts: “China is aiding and abetting the Russian war machine. There is no indication that it will move away from its ‘no limits’ partnership with Russia. The Chinese like to say they are neutral — in the war against Ukraine — but the evidence suggests otherwise. Beijing is sending much-needed components to Russia, on which the Kremlin depends for its ongoing war effort.”
In this context, Milei’s strategy with China to secure the Central Bank’s reserves and obtain investments may trigger a short circuit with the White House. And the eventual short-circuit would continue in the future, regardless of Biden’s successor in the Oval Office: it is a bipartisan position, supported by both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Tellingly, the Argentine government tried to play down the meeting, tagging it on to the end of a Foreign Ministry press release, while China’s Foreign Ministry made quite a big deal out of it, dedicating a whole press release to the matter.
Wang Yi said China has always attached great importance to China-Argentina relations and maintained the stability and continuity of its policy towards Argentina. It is a great pleasure to see that the development of relations with China has become a social consensus in Argentina that transcends political parties…
The economies of China and Argentina are highly complementary, and practical cooperation between the two countries has a solid foundation. China is willing to remain a good friend and partner of Argentina in the development process, expand cooperation in various fields, and share development opportunities. It is incumbent upon both sides to support each other on issues concerning their respective vital interests and far-reaching concerns, and it is hoped that the Argentine side will earnestly abide by its commitments, adhere to the one-China principle and resolutely oppose “Taiwan independence”. China is willing to work with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, including Argentina, to advance the construction of the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum and deepen China-LAC relations.
From Communist “Assassin” to “Very Interesting Trade Partner”
The significance of Milei’s U-turn on China cannot be overstated. His government has aligned Argentina as firmly as possible with the Collective West, even going so far as to apply to become a “global partner” of NATO, months after cancelling Argentina’s membership of the BRICS-plus alliance. It has offered to send weapons to Ukraine while pledging total support for Israel’s genocidal war crimes. In an interview with Bloomberg just over a year ago when still on the campaign trail, Milei referred to the Asian nation as an “assassin”:
“We do not make pacts with communists… I would not promote relations with communists, nor with Cuba, nor with Venezuela, nor with North Korea, nor with Nicaragua, nor with China… People are not free in China, they can’t do what they want and when they do, they get killed. Would you trade with an assassin?
In his chat with Tucker Carlson, Milei said:
Not only am I not going to do business with China, I am not going to do business with any communist… I am a defender of freedom, peace and democracy. The Chinese don’t fit in…
We want to be the moral beacon of the continent, the defenders of freedom, democracy, diversity and peace. We from the State are not going to promote any type of action with communists or socialists.
Granted, all of these statements were made on the campaign train. When Milei the candidate became Milei the president, he quickly softened his position, as he has done with many of his other more radical positions, such as his pledge to shutter Argentina’s central bank and to dollarise Argentina’s economy. In relation to China, Argentina’s second largest trade partner, he quickly clarified that he wouldn’t stand in the way of private business deals between Argentinian and Chinese companies.
“We are liberals,” he said. “And if people want to do business with China, they can.”
But there is a world of difference between Argentine companies doing business with Chinese companies and Argentina’s government pushing for closer economic ties with Beijing. This is precisely what Milei said he would never do.
Softly, Softly
To its credit, the Chinese government remained characteristically tight lipped even as Milei threw insult upon insult in its direction. When Milei won the election, Beijing congratulated him, adding that “China values its relations with Argentina” and is “ready to work with Argentina to continue nurturing our friendship and contribute to each other’s development.” When Milei rejected Xi Jinping’s personal invitation to Argentina to join the BRICS grouping, Beijing said nothing; it just waited.
That softly-softly approach is now paying dividends…
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Nick Corbishley 