Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, Nov. 20, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Ju Peng)
CHINA-LATAM COMMUNITY OF COMMON DESTINY
While addressing the Peruvian Congress on Monday, Xi called on China and Latin American countries to strengthen dialogue on global issues and boost cooperation on domestic development, in a bid to better build their community of common destiny on a new starting point in history.
The natural sense of recognition to each other and the shared sense of mission have made us look at our relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, Xi said, noting that China and Latin American countries can understand and support each other on core interests and major concerns.
Xi proposed that China and Latin America and the Caribbean hold high the banner of peaceful development and cooperation, seek synergy between their development strategies, speed up and upgrade practical cooperation and bring benefits to both peoples.
Xi noted that China will firmly support Latin American countries in seeking development paths suited to their national conditions, gaining greater strength and prosperity through unity, and playing a bigger role in regional and international affairs.
The Chinese president also announced that in the next three years, China will increase the number of training opportunities of various kinds for Latin America and the Caribbean to 10,000.
On Tuesday, Xi, accompanied by his Chilean counterpart Bachelet, attended a summit of Chinese and Latin American media executives in Santiago, at which he urged Chinese and Latin American media agencies to jointly expand their influence and introduce to the world a more realistic image of China and Latin America.
"It was the third time that President Xi has set foot in Latin America since 2013, which shows how much attention he pays to the ties between China and Latin America," Wu said.
From May 31 to June 6, 2013, Xi made state visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico.
In July 2014, Xi paid state visits to Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba. Moreover, a forum between China and Latin America was established to steer the overall cooperation between China and the region.
The first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum was then held in Beijing in January 2015, marking the start of a new era that features all-round cooperation between the two sides.
In 2015, the trade volume between China and Latin America reached 236.5 billion dollars, up more than 20-fold during the past decade, according to Chinese official statistics.
In 2016, China-Latin America relations have moved forward with the setup of new platforms such as the China-Latin America cultural exchange year and the forum of China-Latin America cooperation between local governments.
Currently, China is the second-largest trade partner and third-largest investment source country of Latin America, while Latin America is China's seventh-largest trade partner, and important overseas investment destination.
