Peru on Monday rolled out the red carpet and heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a celebration of tightening ties with the Asian powerhouse in the wake of US Republican candidate Donald Trump’s surprise presidential victory.
China surpassed the US as Peru’s top trade partner years ago, and centrist Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has courted fresh Chinese investment since taking office in July, visiting China before any other country.
Trump’s election in the US has added urgency to Peru and China’s deepening diplomacy, with Trump’s criticism of Chinese trade and Latin American migrants raising questions over the future of the US role in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.
Photo: AFP
Xi’s official visit extended the welcome he received at the annual APEC summit that Peru hosted through Sunday, where he promised to further open China’s economy amid concerns of protectionism.
Peru, on track to become the world’s second-biggest copper producer this year thanks to a new Chinese mine, is one of the world’s most open economies.
“Peru was the first Latin American country to sign a comprehensive free-trade agreement with China. It’s leading the region on cooperation with China,” Xi said through an interpreter in a speech before the Peruvian Congress.
Greeted in Lima by women who sang a welcome song in Mandarin, Xi signed a series of pacts with Kuczynski that included plans to promote Chinese mining projects, including one derailed by deadly protests in 2009.
Kuczynski, stressing the importance of cultural ties, said that a local museum should explore Peruvians’ possible roots in Asian migration across Bering Strait.
“It’s vital to know where you’re from so know where you’re going,” Kuczynski said, as he and Xi stood before a backdrop that blended photographs of Peru’s Machu Picchu Incan ruins with the Great Wall of China.
Kuczynski in June joked that he would sever ties with the US if Trump won the election and said this month that he would oppose the proposed wall for the US-Mexico border in the UN.
A former Wall Street banker, Kuczynski hopes to diversify Peru’s exports to China away from copper. On Monday, his government announced Peru’s first shipment of agricultural products to China by airplane.
However, not all Peruvians are keen on China. A leftist congressional bloc opted out of an award ceremony for Xi, saying Chinese companies put profits before workers, communities and the environment.
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