Forum marks first decade of cooperation

Amid rapidly growing economic and social links, the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or China-CELAC Forum, marked its first decade last week.

Since its inception in 2014, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Brazil, the forum has facilitated over 90 cooperative events, strengthening links between China and the LAC region through trade, investment and partnerships across multiple industries. Trade between China and the region has almost doubled at that time to almost half a trillion dollars.

"In recent years, in line with the rise of its international prominence, China has promoted a set of multilateral cooperation mechanisms aimed at strengthening ties with other regions of the world," said Sebastian Schulz, a researcher at the National University of La Plata in Argentina and a researcher at the university's Center for Chinese Studies.

"The purpose of these initiatives is to create spaces for dialogue and partnership in areas such as commerce, finance, culture, society, education and technology, among others."

Trade facilitation has been the most significant contribution of the forum, said Renzo Burotto, a historian at the University of Chile. As a result of the forum's work, China has become the largest trading partner for several Latin American countries, including Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay.

"Now that China has learned from its integration and going-out experience, it has positioned itself as an irreplaceable trading partner, strengthened commercial and financial institutions at both bilateral and multilateral levels with Latin American countries, and aligned its industrial and development policies with the region's export demands," Burotto said.

The forum has helped China strengthen existing free trade agreements, or FTAs, with Chile, Peru and Costa Rica while facilitating Chinese investments in Latin American infrastructure projects by providing a channel to identify opportunities and coordinate priorities.

CELAC was founded in 2010 to facilitate the integration of economies of some 33 member states throughout the LAC region.

The forum emerged four years later when, on July 17, 2014, Xi attended a meeting of regional leaders in Brazil. That was a year after Xi launched China's Belt and Road Initiative to boost connectivity among countries in multiple regions.

The first meeting of foreign ministers of forum member countries was held in Beijing in January 2015 and participants signed the first cooperation plan that included provisions to promote infrastructure development.

Trade between China and Latin America has surged.

Between 2000 and 2020, annual trade between the two sides skyrocketed from $12 billion to $315 billion, a 26-fold increase, according to the World Economic Forum. In 2022, trade stood at around $450 billion.

Lin Jian, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, commented on the anniversary during a regular news conference on July 17, and highlighted the 90 events that have been held through the forum.

Continuous progress

"Over the past decade, thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, continuous progress has been made in building a China-LAC community with a shared future; and the China-LAC relationship has ushered in a new era characterized by equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and more benefit for the people," he said.

Lin noted that China has signed Belt and Road cooperation memorandums of understanding with 22 countries in the region, and the annual trade is now nearly $500 billion.

China pursued "dual-track cooperation", said Schulz. "On one hand, it's through bilateral agreements like those signed under strategic partnerships, Belt and Road Initiative or free trade agreements. On the other hand, the modalities, guiding principles and objectives of the relationships are defined regionally within the framework of the China-CELAC Forum."

Despite concerns that may arise in individual countries, Burotto said Latin America should maintain strong relations with both China and traditional partners. He called for leveraging the platform to address mutual interests and concerns.

"Strengthening Latin America's engagement with China could demonstrate not only the interdependence of a shared future but also the high costs and counterproductiveness of decoupling or de-risking from China due to political pressures," said Burotto.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.