China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Latin America is not any country’s “backyard” amid Trump administration efforts to expand ties in South America.
Wang met Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa at the UN on Wednesday and made the announcement.
The Chinese foreign minister chaired a UN Security Council high-level gathering in New York. China chairs the council.
“Latin America is the home of the Latin American people, not the backyard of any country,” Wang told Sosa, according to Beijing.
“China supports Latin American countries in defending their sovereignty, independence, and national dignity, and Bolivia in protecting its legitimate rights and interests,” he said.
Wang’s statement follows US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first tour to South America since Trump appointed him last month.Trump has renamed the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of America” and threatened to take over the Panama Canal, forcing Central America to leave China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Beijing condemned Panama’s decision.
“China will always be a reliable friend and partner of Latin America,” Wang assured Bolivia’s foreign minister, which joined the BRICS organization as a “partner nation” last month.
The statement said the China-Latin America Forum turned 10 this year.
“China is eager to work with Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Bolivia, to prepare for this year’s meeting and debate the next decade’s China-Latin America cooperation plan,” Wang told Bolivian officials.
China has grown its commerce with South America, with Brazil, another BRICS alliance founder, becoming its largest partner.In Peru last year, President Xi Jinping inaugurated the first Beijing-funded Chancay Port.
