After the sudden change of ambassador, what is the pending agenda with China?

The untimely change of ambassador to China, from diplomat Luis María Kreckler to political leader Sabino Vaca Narvaja, came amid a hot agenda between Argentina and the country which announced the most investments at the end of the year, and with whom Alberto Fernández has established the most ties in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

This agenda, however, has high-level outstanding issues, which show that relations with China are not as “carnal” as you might think, what is due, according to the weak confession of the government, is because Fernández expects a strong rapprochement with the elected president of the United States. Joseph Biden takes office on January 20.

Negotiations to obtain Chinese vaccines against Covid 19 from Sinopharm did not go as planned. Negotiations are late. In the middle, the Argentine diplomatic role of the change of ambassador to Beijing has slipped. Still, there could be news in the coming days around that batch of 30 million vaccines the government wants for the whole year.

Right now, what is pending today with China is Alberto Fernández’s state visit to Xi Jinping in Beijing. And they both respect the list of investments that would start in 2021, they are in government. At the end of the year, a US $ 4.7 billion agenda for Argentina’s rail system was released. But the investment agenda is to continue and expand what was launched at the time by Diego Guelar, ambassador until 2015.

Initially, the president’s trip to China was scheduled for November 2020, but it was postponed to May 2021 – the 5 was first discussed and then this date was not confirmed – due to the difficulties of the pandemic that is hitting still strong. By then, the Chinese wanted to define issues that are not, such as joining “One Belt One Road”, the Chinese initiative that aims to inject billions of dollars into the countries that are their partners for the work of infrastructure, but this is viewed with suspicion on Washington’s part.

From the Casa Rosada, they now submit Argentina’s entry to the Chinese Silk Road to debt negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, and therefore to relations with the United States. Fernández wants a bilateral deal with Biden alongside Xi’s.

But with the Chinese president, they spoke out amid the millions of tons of hospital supplies that have arrived from China, sold or donated, to fight the coronavirus.

One of the agenda items demanded by the Xi government is that Fernández gave the green light to the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant to which Cristina Kirchner was committed during her last mandate, as well as the space observation base that the Asian power installed in Neuquén in record time, not without controversy. This investment of around $ 14 billion, and 85% funded by Chinese capital, was halted by Mauricio Macri when he estimated that the rest of the investment would generate public spending amid negotiations with the IMF .

At a recent seminar held at UNTREF, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization, Argentinian Rafael Grossi, spoke about Chinese nuclear reactors in positive terms. He said they were “good machines”, “harmless”, and that China was “absolutely valuable technology”. During the seminar, the former undersecretary for nuclear energy, Julián Gadano, who had participated in negotiations with Guelar, to unblock the construction of the plant, which he would not grant either to China Fernández.

It remains to be seen the evolution of trade which, for several months this year, has placed China in the first place of partners, displacing Brazil from the podium, then returning to second place with exports which reached 4016 million US dollars as far from January to August. .

Another problem is the meat. Of the 95 Argentinian cold rooms that work for China (75% of Argentina’s total exports), 4 have been suspended for “suspicion of transport of covid”, which SENASA denies.

Many wonder if this is not more of a mechanism of political pressure from China than a real pandemic situation. And how much will be subject to future investment offers, such as those for 5G in Argentina – yet to be defined – and that for the dredging of the Paraná in Hidrovía.