Xi's visit to further promote China-Mexico relations

Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Mexico will further boost bilateral relations and help promote China-Latin America cooperation, says Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Zeng Gang.

China-Mexico relations have enjoyed sound development since the two countries established diplomatic ties 41 years ago, Zeng said in an interview with Xinhua.

The two sides have carried out comprehensive and in-depth cooperation in politics, trade, culture, education and other fields, he said, citing in particular the frequent exchanges of top-level visits.

In the political field, the two countries forged a strategic partnership in 2003, created a permanent binational commission in 2004, established a strategic dialogue mechanism in 2008, and formed a parliamentary forum in 2010.

"China and Mexico are both important developing countries and emerging-market economies. They hold similar political positions, face similar political circumstances, have many common grounds, and deal with common problems," he noted.

In economic and trade cooperation, China has become Mexico's second largest trading partner, while Mexico is China's second largest in Latin America. Bilateral trade had skyrocketed from 12.99 million U.S. dollars in 1972 to 36.68 billion dollars in 2012.

Pointing out that the areas where the two countries compete only account for a very small part of their foreign trade, Zeng said bilateral trade in general is mutually complementary and beneficial.

In the cultural field, bilateral exchanges now are the most frequent between China and Latin American countries, said Zeng, noting that a Chinese culture center is to open in Mexico soon, the first of its kind in Latin America.

Xi's upcoming visit to Mexico will inject fresh vigor into the development of bilateral relations and lift the two countries' relationship to a higher level, he said.

Commenting on Xi's entire Latin America tour, which also includes Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica, Zeng said the fact that Xi travels to Latin America in his second foreign trip as president evinces China's readiness to deepen ties with the region.

Since the 1990s, especially in the new century, China and Latin America have seen their relations develop rapidly in various fields, noted the ambassador.

China attaches great importance to strengthening cooperation with Latin America, and Latin American countries generally have a strong will to deepen ties with China, he said.

"Beefing up mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation with Latin American countries is in line with China's foreign policy of boosting solidarity and cooperation with developing countries," Zeng said.