Xi pledges $250b investment in CELAC

Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday pledged $250 billion in direct investment to Latin America and set a goal for bilateral trade to reach $500 billion in the coming decade.

Xi made the remarks as he addressed the visiting Latin American ministers at the opening ceremony of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC).

Analysts said the forum, the first major multilateral diplomatic event hosted by China in 2015, demonstrates China's increasing influence in the region, and should make bilateral ties between China and Latin America more practical and institutionalized.

Major outcomes of the forum include a five-year cooperation plan, together with the Beijing Declaration and the Regulations on China-CELAC Forum.

The cooperation plan is meant to define key areas and specific measures for cooperation between China and Latin America from 2015 to 2019, covering political security, trade, investment, finance, infrastructure, energy, resources, industry, agriculture, science and people-to-people exchanges.

Deepening cooperation between the two sides should increase Beijing's influence in the region, long dominated by the US, Sun Hongbo, associate research fellow at the Institute of Latin America, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

In the next five years, China will provide CELAC countries with 6,000 government scholarships and 6,000 training offers, and invite 1,000 political leaders to visit China.

China's economy will continue its medium-to-high-speed growth in the near future, providing opportunities for countries around the world, said Xi.

"Every CELAC member, rich or poor, is equal under the framework of the forum," said Xi. "All sides should maintain friendly consultation, [work toward] common development and consider the interests of all sides in order to ensure a firm political foundation for cooperation."

Strengthening ties with China can make Latin America more independent and, to some extent, offset US dominance, Sun said, adding that CELAC was established partly to counter the Washington-led Organization of American States.

The US influence in Latin America is declining, and US-Latin America ties could be threatened if the US refuses to let the region benefit from its own economic growth, Sun said.

The forum also provides a platform for countries that have not established diplomatic relations with China to communicate with Beijing, especially those who retain "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan, said Jiang Shixue, another expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Nicaragua, for example, is one of a few countries that still maintains a "diplomatic relationship" with Taiwan. Many Central and Southern American countries have ended their "diplomatic relationship" with Taiwan and established relations with Beijing over recent decades.

On Wednesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he had secured more than $20 billion in investment from China, while Ecuador said it obtained a total of $7.53 billion in credit lines and loans.

Maduro said on Thursday that the forum is a historic occasion, and that all countries in the region are anticipating the initiative to reinforce cooperation brought forward by Xi last year.

However, Jiang said that there are issues which could prove challenging to cooperation between China and Latin America.

The construction of an inter-oceanic Nicaragua Canal developed by a Hong Kong company has been opposed by local groups, and countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico have taken anti-dumping measures against Chinese products and investment.

Sun noted that, despite the controversies, the region as a whole takes a favorable view toward continuing to develop ties with China.

"China can provide more opportunities to Latin America to take a ride on the 'express train' of Chinese development," said Sun.

Xinhua contributed to this story