By Gwynne Dyer
Taiwan’s fate is as unknowable as usual, even though we know who the next president is, William Lai, vice-president under outgoing President Tsai Ing-Wen, mainly because the two opposition parties failed to agree on a joint candidate and ultimately split the slightly-less-anti-China vote between them.
Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino met Friday with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wei. During the encounter, both diplomats agreed on the importance of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed between the two countries ten years ago, and reaffirmed the principle of one China in reference to Taiwan's separatism. However, there was no mention of the currency swap worth US$ 6.5 billion Argentina was expecting to receive.
Argentine foreign minister Diana Mondino is proving to be an efficient peace maker. Despite president Javier Milei aggressive rhetoric towards the Beijing regime during and after the electoral campaign, Ms. Mondino seems to have managed a working understanding with the Chinese government.
Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino is to meet on Thursday or Friday with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wei to discuss a US$ 6.5 billion currency swap brokered by former Economy Minister Sergio Massa last year, among other topics.
The Argentine Government of President Javier Milei has been granted a loan of nearly US$ 1 billion by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) to face maturities with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) later this month.
The impact of a slower Chinese economy has started to be felt in Brazilian exports of proteins, mainly beef with considerable lower prices. Last November and ahead of the stock storing in China for the coming New Year celebrations next February, Brazilian sales increased 47% and reached 256.000 tons compared to 173.000 in 2022, but the overall revenue only grew from 872,4 million of one billion.
Credit risk agency Moody's is warning about growing problems with the Chinese economy, and has cut its outlook on government-s debt to negative from stable. China has become the world's second largest economy and the main trading partner, among others of South American countries.
On his last full day in the country before leaving for China, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou criticized opposition leaders for suggesting he was involved in drug trafficking, which the Marset scandal that led to the resignation of several ministers earlier this month would allegedly prove.
San Francisco is finalizing its arrangements for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit during which a key meeting between Presidents Joseph Biden of the United States and Xi Jinping of China is expected to take place on Nov. 15. Xi and Biden will get together to discuss a range of “potentially contentious” topics including the need for military-to-military dialogue.
By Sir Oliver Heald (*) The UK’s Blue Belt Programme for ocean conservation in our Overseas Territories is one of the Conservative Party’s biggest environmental achievements of the past thirteen years.