By Financial Times, edited by María Gabriela Arteaga / Photo: Portal IPublished: Thursday, October 26, 2023 I 08:00
By Joe Daniels
Bogota
China and Colombia have upgraded their relationship to a “strategic partnership.” This is a sign that Washington’s most important ally in South America is turning to Beijing.
Colombia’s first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, met this Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for his first state visit to the world’s second largest economy.
“We (China and Colombia) have become good friends and partners for win-win cooperation and common development,” Xi told Petro, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
With the signing of the “Strategic Partnership” agreement, Guyana becomes the only South American country that does not have Beijing’s designation.
This was said by Petro, who took office in August 2022 Better relations with Beijing are an example of “the good relations that Colombia needs to build in an increasingly multipolar world.”
China has been seeking closer ties with South America in recent years. In June it signed a free trade agreement with Ecuador, while Beijing-backed Cosco is building a controversial megaport in Peru.
The Peruvian regulator has identified risks to competition in the sale of Enel Américas’ assets to the Chinese company CGSI
contentious relationships
But gaining a foothold in Colombia – a strong U.S. ally in the center of the Americas with access to the Caribbean and the Pacific – is particularly attractive to Beijing, analysts said.
“It would also help in the spread of technological products and services, among other Chinese interests,” i.eijo Parsifal D’Sola, executive director of the Andrés Bello Foundation, a think tank focused on Sino-Latin American relations. “And given Colombia’s historic ties with the United States, it would be a diplomatic victory for China.”
Petro’s visit to China followed a diplomatic row with Israel and the United States over his comments comparing the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza to that of Jews during the Holocaust.
Both the United States and Israel condemned the comments, as did lawmakers in Washington. Then, Petro threatened to cut ties with Tel Aviv and complained that Colombia’s foreign policy had long been “subordinate” to that of the United States.
Analysts worry that Petro, known for his impulsiveness, may not be able to muster the poise needed to steer relations between Washington and Beijing.
“It would take a real chess player on the geopolitical stage to thread this needle,” said Sergio Guzmán, whose consulting firm Colombia Risk Analysis published a report on Sino-Colombian relations this year.
“But Petro’s recent foreign policy proposals, particularly the dispute with Israel, show that he is more impulsive than strategic.”
China and Colombia agreed on 12 “cooperation instruments” on Wednesday, including health protocols to increase beef and quinoa exports to China; They also promised cooperation in science, technology, mathematics and green energy.
Colombia is not among the 21 Latin American countries that have joined Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The company invests in infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income countries, but Petro said before his visit that he and Xi would discuss the plan.
In Beijing, Petro laid a wreath at Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and met with two state-backed Chinese companies building a controversial subway system in Bogota.
China is Colombia’s second largest trading partner after the USA. with exports to the Asian power in 2022 totaling $7,000 million. China has also invested in gold mining in Colombia, despite Petro Xi’s request to import more Colombian products. “There is a huge deficit,” he said.
Oil is Colombia’s largest export to China. However, Petro is trying to move the country away from hydrocarbons.