Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Tuesday to boost Beijing's footprint in Latin America and the Caribbean with a new $9 billion credit line and fresh infrastructure investment, although Brazil warned the region not to become overly reliant on funding from abroad.
The world's second-largest economy will disburse 66 billion yuan ($9.18 billion) in credit to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States' (CELAC) members, Xi told delegates from around 30 nations gathered in Beijing for the three-yearly China-CELAC Forum Ministerial Meeting.
"China and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are important members of the Global South. Independence is our glorious tradition, development and revitalization our natural right, and fairness and justice our common pursuit," Xi said.
Xi promised leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro, that China would also import more from Latin America and encourage its firms to boost investment.
Beijing has stepped up efforts in recent years to displace the United States as the region's primary development partner, although Xi's global "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative (BRI) has encountered challenges in some countries.
China also sees courting the region as a way to squeeze self-ruled Taiwan. Seven of the 12 countries that have official diplomatic ties with the island, which Beijing considers one of its provinces, hail from Latin America or the Caribbean.
Haiti and Saint Lucia, which both recognize Taiwan, sent representatives to Beijing for the CELAC summit. Panama's ambassador to China was also in attendance, although the Central American country has announced it does not intend to renew its BRI membership, which is set to expire in two to three years.
The fresh credit line, denominated in yuan, will be welcomed in many regional capitals, analysts say, although the funding is not immediately useful to countries struggling to service dollar-denominated debt.
"They are doing a lot more yuan-based deals like this, particularly for credit swap agreements that make it easier for the borrowing country to transact in RMB rather than USD," said Eric Orlander, co-founder of the China-Global South Development Project.
"I think there is a case to be made that it is a win for Latin America in the sense that getting access to capital is now not as easy as it used to be."
The funding is just under half the amount Beijing offered during the inaugural China-CELAC Forum in 2015, although, as its $19 trillion economy has slowed, so has its willingness to lend.
Xi also announced that visa-free travel would be rolled out to five countries, without specifying which ones.
After the opening ceremony, delegates adopted a joint action plan covering cooperation through to 2027, a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.
The forum comes as many Latin American and Caribbean states seek to negotiate better trade terms with the United States, following President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs.
Xi reiterated China's opposition to the levies, while the Brazilian President urged the region not to become overly reliant on the world's top economies. "It's important to understand, (the fate of Latin America) doesn't depend on anyone else. It does not depend on President Xi Jinping, it does not depend on the United States, it does not depend on the European Union, it depends solely and simply on whether we want to be great or continue to be small," Lula said.
But Brazil, for one, has been aligning more closely with China, sensing an opportunity to sell more agricultural goods to the world's top food importer as it winds down purchases from the U.S.
Xi and Lula held talks later on Tuesday and signed a series of cooperation documents covering agriculture, nuclear energy and broader technical cooperation, Brazilian state TV reported.
Of the $240 billion worth of goods China bought from the CELAC countries last year, just under half came from Brazil, the region's largest economy.
Two-way trade between China and the CELAC bloc was $515 billion in 2024, according to Chinese customs data, up from $450 billion in 2023 and just $12 billion in 2000.
