Libertarian criticized China during the election campaign, but now he is toning it down and talking about wanting the wellbeing of the Chinese people
The President of China, Xi Jiping, sent a letter to the elected President of Argentina, Javier Milei, congratulating him on his election victory on Sunday (11/19/2023). Although Milei had already said he would not do business with Beijing, he lowered his tone and thanked the Chinese.
In the letter, Xi praised the longstanding cooperation between the two countries. “I greatly appreciate the development of ChinaArgentina relations and am willing to work with Milei to advance our friendship, promote the development and revitalization of the two countries through mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the solid and sustainable growth of ChinaChina relations and Argentina “to better help the people of both countries,” the Chinese president wrote.
The Argentine politician responded in a post on X, published on Wednesday (November 22): “I thank President Xi Jinping for the congratulations and wishes he sent me in his letter. I send my sincere wellbeing to the Chinese people.”
During his campaign, Milei said he would not negotiate with China if he won the election. In 2021, he announced that he would not do “business with communists.”
In August this year, the Argentinean told Bloomberg News that “the people of China are not free, they cannot do what they want and if they do, they will be killed.”
The issue was raised during the last presidential debate on November 12th. “Imagine December 11th [quando o governo eleito assume a Presidência da Argentina] “We will break with Mercosur and we will break relations with China… the first thing we need to know is that we will break with our two most important markets,” he explained. “By breaking away from China, we lost a $15 billion market.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Tuesday (November 21, 2023) that it would be a “huge foreign policy mistake” if Argentina were to break off relations with important countries “such as China and Brazil”. . He also said that it would be positive for the libertarian to visit the Asian country to really “find out what’s going on.”
Beijing is Argentina’s secondlargest trading partner after Brazil, with which Milei has also said it would freeze relations.
Argentina’s future president was elected with a liberal agenda that favored shrinking the size of the state and cutting subsidies. He also said he intended to close the central bank and turn Argentina’s economy into dollars. In the elections he received around 55.7% of the vote, compared to 44.30% for Economy Minister Sergio Massa.
Milei will take over Casa Rosada on December 10th.
Trump card
From XIn doing so, Milei responded to former US President Donald Trump’s wishes for a good government that will “make Argentina great again.” “His presidency was an example for all of us who defend the ideas of freedom and I hope to meet him soon,” wrote the Argentine, who had the support of the North American during the election campaign.
