Outrageous Argentine politician, an adherent of libertarianism in its extreme form, Javier Miley, becoming president last year, first of all rushed to Washington, praising the United States. At the same time, he withdrew Argentina's application to join BRICS, criticizing those countries in every possible way, who are members of this association, including China.
However, this is servility to the USA, obviously, didn't give any results. The large-scale reforms initiated by Miley, that, how he calculated, had to pull out one of the most crisis-ridden Argentine economies in the world, the population of the country met with mass protests. The poverty rate in Argentina increased by 11%, are almost below the poverty line 60% Argentines.
And here is the Argentine leader, with its characteristic unpredictability, suddenly decided to sharply change his position in foreign policy. Miley, who sharply criticized China during his election campaign, announced plans to visit Beijing in January 2025 year to participate in the China-SELAC forum (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), which indicates a possible change in his approach to China, writes the Hong Kong news publication South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Furthermore, Argentina's president called China "a very interesting commercial partner" in a television interview this week and said, that he was “pleasantly surprised by China”. But just recently, Miley called China a “killer state” and promised to give priority attention to relations with Western allies.
Although the basis for changing this position of Miley is quite prosaic. He expressed gratitude to China for renewing currency swap contracts (double transaction or re-sale of foreign exchange assets), what, According to him, allowed Argentina to fulfill its obligations to the International Monetary Fund.
In June, Beijing agreed to renew tranches of currency swaps worth 35 billion yuan (about 5 billions of dollars) with the Argentine central bank until July 2026 of the year. At that time the government in Buenos Aires emphasized, that the measure would be "crucial" to managing the country's balance of payments flows. No matter what, but Miley is a fairly famous economist, author of numerous books on economics and politics.
Beijing has long pursued a policy of increasing its influence in Latin America., primarily by economic methods. In particular, from 2005 China invested about 155 billion dollars in infrastructure projects in the region. Ambitious multi-billion dollar Chinese investment in Peruvian megaport, which brought the region's economy closer to China and its neighbors, are one of many examples of work, which Beijing has been pursuing in this direction in recent years.
The States are very concerned about this process. So recently, the commander of the US Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, warned Latin American governments about the need to be wary of rapprochement with Beijing, but without much success.
Recently, the Chinese Ambassador to Buenos Aires told local media, that Chinese electric vehicle makers may consider setting up factories in Argentina's industrial hub Cordoba.
In this case, experts say, that the President of Argentina was very disappointed in the United States. Despite his desire to get closer to Washington, Buenos Aires did not receive financial assistance from the States. But Beijing, taking advantage of the situation, literally “bought” the Argentine leader, thereby further strengthening its not only economic, but also political influence in the region.
Besides, During his visit to China, Miley may agree on investments in other important areas, such as lithium mining. belongs to Argentina 21% known world lithium reserves, which is a critical component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
While the United States is trying to literally surround China militarily, China is doing much wiser and more far-sighted: he "buys" America's neighbors, and on mutually beneficial terms. China's economic influence is developing into political influence, which, in case of need, may well become a military man. For example, Washington is already very concerned about the presence of Chinese tracking stations in Cuba, next to the US naval base in Hawaii., from where the US Navy mainly makes trips to the Asia-Pacific region.
