Xi Jinping's call for strengthened cooperation with Latin America at China-CELAC meeting
Image: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is willing to strengthen solidarity with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries and announced five major programs to jointly pursue development and revitalisation with LAC countries on Tuesday.
The five programs, solidarity, development, civilisation, peace, and people-to-people connectivity, were announced by Xi while delivering a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing.
On the solidarity program, Xi said China is willing to strengthen solidarity with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries and continue to support each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns to firmly safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and international order underpinned by international law and to speak with one voice in international and regional affairs.
In the next three years, China will invite 300 members from political parties of CELAC member states every year to visit China to facilitate exchanges on national governance best practices, Xi said.
Regarding the development program, Xi said China is willing to work with LAC countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, resolutely uphold the multilateral trading system, ensure stable, unimpeded global industrial and supply chains, and promote an international environment of openness and cooperation.
Noting that the two sides should foster greater synergy between their development strategies and expand high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, Xi said China will import more quality products from LAC countries and encourage Chinese enterprises to expand their investment in the region.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
On the civilisation program, Xi called for the joint implementation of the Global Civilization Initiative. He said both sides should uphold the vision of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness between civilisations, champion humanity's common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and enhance China-LAC civilizational exchanges and mutual learning, including through a conference on China-LAC inter-civilizational dialogue.
For the peace program, Xi called for the joint implementation of the Global Security Initiative. He said both sides should cooperate more closely in disaster governance, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, anti-corruption, narcotics control, and combating transnational organised crime to safeguard security and stability in the region.
Regarding people-to-people connectivity, Xi said in the next three years, China will provide CELAC member states with 3,500 government scholarships, 10,000 training opportunities in China, 500 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarships, 300 training opportunities for poverty reduction professionals, and 1,000 funded placements through the Chinese Bridge program, initiate 300 "small and beautiful" livelihood projects, and support CELAC member states in developing Chinese language education.
China has decided to offer a visa-free policy to five LAC countries and will expand the policy to cover more regional countries in due course, Xi said.
Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, the CELAC rotating chair, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, and Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former Brazilian president, respectively, addressed the event.
The special representative for Yamandu Orsi, president of Uruguay and the incoming CELAC rotating chair, read out the president's congratulatory letter.
Faced with a world full of uncertainties, LAC countries and China should work together to promote continuous new progress in building a community with a shared future, they said.
Both sides should respect each other and firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty and choosing their own development path, they said, calling for strengthening the synergy between the development strategies of LAC countries and the Belt and Road Initiative and promoting cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology, new energy and education.
The two sides should also promote exchanges and dialogues among civilizations, safeguard the authority of the UN, support multilateralism and free trade, and oppose unilateralism, protectionism, power politics, and bullying to safeguard the common interests of the Global South, they added.
This article was originally published in CGTN.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
34 minutes ago
- eNCA
US Treasury chief eyes China tariff deadline extension in talks next week
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that he would meet his Chinese counterparts in Stockholm next week for tariff talks, eyeing an extension to a mid-August deadline for levies to snap back to steeper levels. Bessent told Fox Business that he will be speaking with Chinese officials on Monday and Tuesday for a third round of high-level negotiations, to work out what he said would be a likely postponement of the deadline. Washington and Beijing slapped escalating, tit-for-tat levies on each other's exports earlier this year -- reaching triple digit levels -- stalling trade between the world's two biggest economies as tensions surged. But after top officials met in Geneva in May, both sides agreed to temporarily lower their tariff levels in a de-escalation set to expire next month. Officials from the two countries also met in London in June. "That deal expires on August 12, and I'm going to be in Stockholm on Monday and Tuesday with my Chinese counterparts, and we'll be working out what is likely an extension then," Bessent said in the interview. He noted that Washington also wanted to speak about a wider range of topics, potentially including Chinese purchases of Iranian and Russian oil. For other economies facing an earlier August 1 deadline for higher US tariffs to kick in, Bessent said he expects the duties will boomerang back up -- but signaled Washington would continue negotiations. Trade talks between the United States and China had initially stalled after their Geneva meeting in May, although Bessent said trade is in a good place now with Beijing. Disagreements bubbled to the fore when US officials earlier accused Beijing of violating their pact and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths -- crucial materials for making electronics and other goods. Since then, the two countries have agreed on a framework to move forward with their Geneva consensus. The United States has been seen relaxing certain restrictions on semiconductor sales to China, while Beijing has been reviewing applications for export licenses of controlled items. Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has imposed a sweeping 10 percent tariff on allies and competitors alike, alongside steeper levels on steel, aluminum and autos. The 10 percent blanket rate is expected to increase for dozens of economies -- although not China -- come August 1, unless they reach an agreement with Washington to avert this outcome. So far, the Trump administration has only announced deals with Britain, Vietnam and Indonesia. But Bessent maintained Tuesday that more pacts are to come. bys/mlm By Beiyi Seow
eNCA
4 hours ago
- eNCA
China urges global consensus on balancing AI development, security
BEIJING - China's Premier Li Qiang warned Saturday that artificial intelligence development must be weighed against the security risks, saying global consensus was urgently needed even as the tech race between Beijing and Washington shows no sign of abating. His remarks came just days after US President Donald Trump unveiled an aggressive low-regulation strategy aimed at cementing US dominance in the fast-moving field, promising to "remove red tape and onerous regulation" that could hinder private sector AI development. Opening the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai on Saturday, Li emphasised the need for governance and open-source development, announcing the establishment of a Chinese-led body for international AI cooperation. "The risks and challenges brought by artificial intelligence have drawn widespread attention... How to find a balance between development and security urgently requires further consensus from the entire society," the premier said. He gave no further details about the newly announced organisation, though state media later reported "the preliminary consideration" was that it would be headquartered in Shanghai. The organisation would "promote global governance featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits", state news agency Xinhua reported, without elaborating on its set-up or mechanisms. At a time when AI is being integrated across virtually all industries, its uses have raised major questions, including about the spread of misinformation, its impact on employment and the potential loss of technological control. In a speech at WAIC on Saturday, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Geoffrey Hinton compared the situation to keeping "a very cute tiger cub as a pet". To survive, he said, you need to ensure you can train it not to kill you when it grows up. - Pledge to share AI advances - The enormous strides AI technology has made in recent years have seen it move to the forefront of the US-China rivalry. Premier Li said China would "actively promote" the development of open-source AI, adding Beijing was willing to share advances with other countries, particularly developing ones. "If we engage in technological monopolies, controls and blockage, artificial intelligence will become the preserve of a few countries and a few enterprises," he said. Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu warned against "unilateralism and protectionism" at a later meeting. Washington has expanded its efforts in recent years to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China, concerned that they can be used to advance Beijing's military systems and erode US tech dominance. Li, in his speech, highlighted "insufficient supply of computing power and chips" as a bottleneck to AI progress. China has made AI a pillar of its plans for technological self-reliance, with the government pledging a raft of measures to boost the sector. In January, Chinese startup DeepSeek unveiled an AI model that performed as well as top US systems despite using less powerful chips. - 'Defining test' - In a video message played at the WAIC opening ceremony, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said AI governance would be "a defining test of international cooperation". The ceremony saw the French president's AI envoy, Anne Bouverot, underscore "an urgent need" for global action and for the United Nations to play a "leading role". Bouverot called for a framework "that is open, transparent and effective, giving each and everyone an opportunity to have their views taken into account". Li's speech "posed a clear contrast to the Trump administration's 'America First' view on AI" and the US measures announced this week, said WAIC attendee George Chen, a partner at Washington-based policy consultancy The Asia Group. "The world is now clearly divided into at least three camps: the United States and its allies, China (and perhaps many Belt and Road or Global South countries), and the EU -- which prefers regulating AI through legislation, like the EU AI Act," Chen told AFP. At an AI summit in Paris in February, 58 countries including China, France and India -- as well as the European Union and African Union Commission -- called for enhanced coordination on AI governance. But the United States warned against "excessive regulation", and alongside the United Kingdom, refused to sign the summit's appeal for an "open", "inclusive" and "ethical" AI.
Eyewitness News
4 hours ago
- Eyewitness News
Britain 'taking forward' Gaza food airdrop plan: PM Starmer's office
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to get aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said. "The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," a statement said. In a phone conversation, Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza "which they agreed is appalling". "They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace," according to a readout released by Downing Street. "They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan.... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region. They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it," it added. The discussion comes a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience". Aid groups have warned of surging cases of starvation, particularly among children, in war-ravaged Gaza, which Israel placed under an aid blockade in March amid its ongoing war with Hamas. That blockade was partially eased two months later. The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
