China, LatAm share goals in development

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) showed China and Latin America share the same goals and values, a former Chilean ambassador to China said Wednesday.

Documents from the congress indicate China wants a multipolar, peaceful and tolerant world, ideas shared by Latin America, Fernando Reyes Matta, head of the Center of Latin American Studies on China, told Xinhua.

In addition, both China and Latin America shared the same goals of reducing poverty and advancing toward equity in wealth distribution, Reyes Matta said.

These common grounds between China and Latin America constituted an agenda for working together, he said. "Here is where the future projects of the relationship between Latin America and China become strong, beginning with the mechanism recently created to boost ties between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)."

Reyes Matta said last August's visit of CELAC countries' ministers to Beijing was a first step to all the work that remains to be done between China and the region.

"The undertaking is totally important for both sides because there is still much to do and we are starting now," he said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's speech last June at the UN Economic Commissions for Latin America and the Caribbean also stressed concrete proposals to boost China-Latin America ties that urgently requires a more structural reaction from Latin American nations, Reyes Matta said.

The former ambassador was in China during the 18th CPC national congress, accompanying a delegation of Chilean architects in a Future Leaders Program.

"One of the things I witnessed during the days of the 18th National Congress of the CPC was the positive social atmosphere in the streets and in the cities, where people were interested in finding out the outcomes of the event," he said.

He said the reason for the public enthusiasm about the congress was that the congress would definitely provide answers to the country's new issues of economic and social development.

In the past 30 years, China has made achievements that have amazed the world. Now, it strives to seek higher level of development which features higher life quality for the people, Reyes Matta said.