On the 20th of March Tsinghua Ambassador Talks welcomed Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina Gustavo Alberto Martino who gave a speech on the future of China-Argentina bilateral relations in the context of political and economic integration within Latin America. Professor Shi Zhiqin and Professor Zhang Chuanjie first greeted the Ambassador to Tsinghua before he began his excellent and insightful speech to a large and captivated audience.
The Ambassador Martino firstly gave a brief introduction about Chinese and Argentinian history. He explained that they established diplomatic relations in 1972. Since then, cooperation between the two countries has developed rapidly. In 2004, Argentina and China established a co-strategic partnership, and after signing respective agreements, trade and development between the two countries is booming and has become increasingly effective. Ambassador Martino pointed out 10 factors that help to make China and Argentina relations so successful. Both countries are developing ones with the emerging economies. They are also growing consumers. In this sense, Argentina can satisfy the demands of China, while China can answer Argentina`s needs.
The Ambassador Martino revealed that while Argentina has been through great challenges - particularly the economic crisis in 2002-2003 - it has been able to recover and continues to grow very fast. This is also the case for other countries in Latin America. In the context of this development, China remains the main strategic partner not only for Argentina, but also for many other countries in Latin America as well.
Ambassador Martino emphasized the fact that China and Argentina have never had any major conflicts and in this sense have maintained an easy mutual trust and political consensus – an understanding which has helped to create an environment of cooperation in the spheres of biotechnology, energy, nuclear power, and space, which we can still see flourishing today.
In closing out the talks, Ambassador Martino responded to questions posed by the audience. Such question-topics included the role of Argentina as China`s partner among other rival countries in Latin America, contemporary Argentina-Chile and Argentina-Brazil relations, further cooperation in education and investment spheres, and finally, Argentina`s role in the integration process in Latin America. Overall, Mr. Gustavo Alberto Martino provided an excellent and positive account of contemporary relations between China and Argentina covering a wide range of economic, political, and social issues.
