Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja

Many say that when China grows, the world grows. Even during COVID-19, China had very significant growth. Remember that in the first year of the pandemic, it was the only major economy that had growth and, furthermore, in that difficult moment it displayed a lot of solidarity with the world, particularly with Argentina.

This year, I have had many tours throughout China, being able to see with my own eyes how consumption and the entire industrial process are being reactivated, which is very important. When there is a strong rebound in the Chinese economy, this brings new opportunities for economies like Argentina. China is one of Argentina's main trading partners.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has presented the Global Civilizations Initiative (GCI), in which he advocates respect for the diversity of civilizations. "Countries need to uphold the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations, and let cultural exchanges transcend estrangement, mutual learning transcend clashes, and coexistence transcend feelings of superiority," President Xi said in a keynote address at the Communist Party of China in Dialogue With World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on March 15.

Argentina considers that this represents the great responsibility that China shoulders at the international level, and it is extremely interesting given what humanity is going through at the moment. In Argentina, we always support China's efforts to promote true multilateralism, dialogue and peaceful settlement of international disputes.

China has presented several initiatives and proposals to tackle global challenges. At first, President Xi raised the Belt and Road Initiative to build a trade and infrastructure network along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. He also promoted the idea of a community with a shared future for humanity and the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and Global Security Initiative (GSI). The most recent GCI synthesizes all the other initiatives, which is essential to finding a way out of the complexity that the world is experiencing. It is not just a theoretical proposal, but also has concrete objectives and results. I want to highlight the mediative role that China has played in restoring relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which shows us the way to follow at the international level.

If one sees how the world order is structured today, most of the countries, especially those with the greatest asymmetries in terms of domestic development, are demanding a fairer, more balanced and truly multilateral world, where there is no imposition of any power. In that sense, we are very much in agreement with the philosophy that President Xi proposes in the GDI, GSI and GCI. These three initiatives underline a community with shared future for humanity.

The initiatives and the Chinese development model have a lot to offer other countries, as a system where technological progress and financial resources are oriented to productive development.

I remember the words of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in the sense that if development is not beneficial for all, it is insignificant. It is worthless if it generates concentration of wealth. So, it seems to me that this is the ultimate meaning of what is called high-quality development. And the modernization process is worthless if it generates uneven development within a country. So, we are talking about a concept that interests us a lot because it is about comprehensive modernization where development is for all.

Many of the countries across the world share these fundamental initiatives, which reflect the strong appeal of Chinese experience. And China is also advancing, mindful of the challenges and complexities of a world that is constantly changing. We're seeing it when China transfers technology, for example, when it makes all of its satellite imagery development available. And we also see it in the fight against climate change, which requires all countries to play their role. We cannot address it as isolated countries. 

The author is the Argentine ambassador to China. 

This article is excerpted from a recent interview he gave to Beijing Review reporter Miao Ye, where he shared his views on the current state of relations between the two countries, as well as his understanding of the Global Civilizations Initiative and other initiatives proposed by China.

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