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Argentina’s snub may strain China ties but Brics has ‘dodged a bullet’
- President Javier Milei’s pivot towards the West ‘may lead to a decrease’ in diplomatic, economic engagement with Beijing, according to analyst
- Another says that given the poor state of the Argentine economy and ‘the damage being done’, the move is a ‘blessing in disguise’ for the bloc
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Argentina’s snub of the Brics developing economies may further strain relations with China but the bloc has “dodged a bullet”, according to analysts.
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There has been uncertainty over the relationship between China and Argentina since far-right economist Javier Milei was elected president of the Latin American nation in November. While Milei has softened his tone recently, he had campaigned on breaking ties with China, stating that its people were “not free” and that Argentina would no longer work with nations “ruled by communism”.
Milei’s China policy is a stark contrast to that of his centre-left predecessor Alberto Fernandez, who in 2022 signed onto Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. His attendance at the Beijing Winter Olympics that year and the belt and road forum in October were seen as signs of growing ties.
But Milei has made clear that his country’s “geopolitical alignment” is with the United States and Israel, whose ongoing attack on Gaza has alienated much of the Global South.
Milei – whose letter to Brics leaders in December said the moment was not “opportune” for Argentina to join as a full member – is seemingly fulfilling his pledge to ditch Fernandez’s efforts to seek closer ties with developing economies.
According to Josef Gregory Mahoney, a politics and international relations professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai, Beijing had anticipated that Argentina would join Brics, so its withdrawal was “a source of some embarrassment”.
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