Can Alberto Fernandez woo China and ease Argentina’s economic woes?

New president could use Beijing’s desire to have Buenos Aires sign up to its Belt and Road Initiative as a way to attract new funding, academic says

But China is also keen to see a return on the investments it has already made, expert says

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Alberto Fernandez, Argentina’s new president, will have to balance relations with China and the US as he tries to improve his country’s economic fortunes, experts say. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 30 Oct 2019Updated: 5:01am, 31 Oct 2019

Alberto Fernandez may have won the presidency in Argentina but he still has work to do if he wants to nurture a successful relationship with China that could help him lift the country out of its economic doldrums, observers say.

Latin America’s third-largest economy is crippled by rising inflation and a plummeting currency, and those things could see it moving ever closer to Beijing, they say.

“The way the global chessboard works, Argentina might fall into the arms of China,” said Nicolas Saldias, an expert on Argentina and senior researcher at the Wilson Centre, a think tank in Washington.

“Cristina [Fernandez de Kirchner] supporters tend to see China very favourably and perceive it as a counter-hegemonic power to the US,” he said, referring to Argentina’s former president and Fernandez’s vice-president, whom some regard as the real power in the pairing.

China is the biggest buyer of Argentina’s exports. Photo: Xinhua

China is Argentina’s largest lender, the biggest buyer of its exports, and since 2007 has invested almost US$17 billion in infrastructure projects in the country.