General

First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and Cuban President Diaz-Canel paid a state visit to China from November 24th to 26th. It is understood that President Dias-Canel is the first Latin American and Caribbean head of state received by China after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Cuba is the first Latin American and Caribbean country in the Western Hemisphere to establish diplomatic relations with New China. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and China 62 years ago, bilateral international trade cooperation has become increasingly close. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, China is Cuba's largest trading partner in goods, and Cuba is China's second largest trading partner in the Caribbean region. The two sides have extensive cooperation in fields such as agriculture, renewable energy, and biopharmaceuticals. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and Cuba will increase by 7.2%; in the first three quarters of this year, bilateral international trade continued to grow, and China's imports from Cuba even achieved an increase of 18.1%.

China-Cuba economic and trade cooperation is the epitome of China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation. Shu Jueting, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, said on November 24 that economic and trade cooperation is the "ballast stone" and "stabilizer" of the relationship between China and Latin American countries. The economies of China and Latin American countries are highly complementary and there is huge potential for cooperation. The Latin American region is a natural extension of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", and 21 countries have signed "Belt and Road" cooperation documents with China. In recent years, China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation has overcome the adverse impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, showing strong resilience and development momentum, and has now fully recovered and exceeded the pre-epidemic level.

In this regard, Jiang Shixue, Distinguished Professor of Shanghai University and director of the Center for Latin American Studies, said that China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation has shown the characteristics of fast growth in trade and investment, more and more extensive investment fields, and win-win cooperation. Among them, China's investment in infrastructure is the most significant.

"According to the statistics of Latin American scholars, as of 2021, China has completed and put into use a total of 129 infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a cumulative investment of 98.4 billion US dollars, creating more than 673,000 jobs for the host country." Jiang Shixue said.

Xu Deshun, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China and Latin America have achieved remarkable results in cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, and project contracting.

In the field of trade, Xu Deshun said that since the 21st century, the total trade volume between China and Latin America has continued to grow. Especially after China established a comprehensive cooperative partnership with Latin American and Caribbean countries in 2014, China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation has entered a fast track.

According to China Customs statistics, the total trade volume between China and Latin America will reach US$451.59 billion in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 41.1%. "In 2021, the total volume and growth rate of China-Latin America import and export trade will hit a new high, and China will continue to maintain its position as Latin America's second largest trading partner. In the first ten months of 2022, the total trade value between China and Latin America will be nearly 2.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.1% %, which is higher than the overall growth rate of China's foreign trade during the same period. At present, China has signed free trade agreements with Costa Rica, Peru, and Chile, and Latin America and the Caribbean are important forces in China's foreign trade." Xu Deshun said.

In the field of investment, the "2021 Statistical Bulletin of China's Foreign Direct Investment" shows that China's investment in Latin America in 2021 will reach 26.16 billion US dollars, an increase of 57% over the previous year. In the field of project contracting, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, as of the end of 2021, Chinese companies have signed a total of US$237.15 billion in contracted projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a turnover of US$152.4 billion.

Xu Deshun pointed out that at present, the two-way investment between China and Latin America mainly comes from and flows to offshore financial centers such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. The real two-way investment between China and Latin America still has a lot of room for development, and it is necessary to further expand cooperation channels and expand cooperation Scale, stimulate cooperation potential.

It is worth noting that China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation is also facing certain challenges. Xu Deshun said that the industrial policies such as "nearshore outsourcing" and "nearshore investment" implemented by the United States, as well as the so-called "American Partnership for Economic Prosperity" (APEP) plan, have affected China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation to a certain extent. In addition, conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, US dollar interest rate hikes, domestic political instability in some Latin America, debt pressure, and food crisis have exacerbated the severe trade, financial and economic situation in Latin America. Factors such as industrial competition and cultural differences have also led to trade frictions and disputes between China and Latin America.

Talking about prospects, Jiang Shixue said that the bilateral economic and trade development in the past few decades has shown that the degree of economic integration and dependence between China and Latin America has been increasing, and will continue to develop rapidly in the future.

Xu Deshun said that China-Latin America trade and investment cooperation is facing development opportunities. From 2015 to 2020, the proportion of trade volume in Latin America to its GDP is lower than the global average level, and the development of international trade has a broad market space. At the same time, China's strong manufacturing base and the rich natural resources of Latin American countries can complement each other. In addition, the lack of new infrastructure construction in Latin American countries, the restructuring of industrial and supply chains, and the urgent need for digital economy development will also drive broader and deeper international trade and investment cooperation between China and Latin America in the future.