Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino is on a crusade in China to discuss bilateral issues with an economic giant with whom President Javier Milei had pledged during his campaign that he wanted no ties. “Not only will I not do business with China, I will not do business with any communist,” Milei announced repeatedly on his way to Casa Rosada.
China Construction Bank (Asia), a state owned financial institution filed a petition in Hong Kong to wind up the Shamao Group, after the Chinese real estate and construction developer failed to repay loans worth HK$1.58bn (US$ 201.8m; £159.7m).
China on Tuesday announced an ambitious economic growth target of 5% for 2024, vowing to “seek progress while maintaining stability” amid a sluggish economy and weak confidence among investors and consumers. This contrasts with the 5,2% reported for 2023 and 3% during 2022.
Disgruntled Chinese football fans, blaming Argentine top star Lionel Messi, are now advocating that the Falklands are British, --certainly not Argentine--.Messi failed to play in an exhibition match in Hong Kong, for which the Chinese public paid a considerable sum, and furious frustrated fans are calling the captain of the Argentine World Cup winner a thief and contradicting Beijing's official stance that the Malvinas are a relic of British colonialism and that the Islands belong to Argentina.
In a bizarre turn of events reminiscent of a Hollywood (or Bollywood) plotline, India has released a pigeon that was detained by authorities for eight months on suspicion of espionage. The peculiar case unfolded when the bird was intercepted in May 2023 in the port of Bombay, drawing attention due to two rings tied to its legs containing messages in Chinese.
Argentina is forecasted to increase 5,1% beef and calf production this year, reaching some 3,3 million tons with a domestic consumption of 2.43 million tons, according to the latest report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This follows on a record beef exports 2023, 682.000 tons, despite government measures and export levies aimed at curbing prices in the home market in an election year.
Argentina's Air Force is to move on with the process of purchasing 24 second-hand US-built F-16 fighter jets from Denmark with the White House's nod, it was reported in Buenos Aires. The decision meant dropping the alternative of Chinese-developed JF-17 units in line with President Javier Milei's policy of not joining the BRICS group and not holding Beijing as a key ally.
Brazil's government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ratified the South American country's unequivocal adherence to the One China Principle regarding Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a rogue province. The message was conveyed Friday in Brasilia to Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
A new agreement between Bolivia's state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) and the Chinese consortium CATL, BRUNP & CMOC (CBC) was signed Thursday to install a lithium carbonate pilot plant with Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology in the Uyuni salt flat and would have a production of 2,500 tons per year after an investment worth US$ 90 million.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting in Brasilia on Thursday with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's special advisor Celso Amorim to discuss trade and cooperation between the two countries, it was reported. Wang Yi and Vieira are to meet again Friday for the signing of a series of agreements after which they will be issuing a joint statement to the press, it was also explained.