Opinion | A Chinese controversy Argentina can do without

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1]

It's not the kind of attention Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino would want from the press. After her "we are open for business" visit to Beijing, now back home, she was caught saying, "Chinese people are all the same."

It seems the Argentine media and opposition have been more riled than the Chinese themselves. Former presidential hopeful and leftist opposition leader Juan Grabois has called her a "racist" on X.

"Not the money, the pearls or French perfume, the credentials, degrees or positions, nothing can erase the ignorance of a racist, it's a disease of the soul," Grabois' post read.

"Her statements would be disgusting if she were a simple citizen, but as a foreign minister they become unusually serious."

Well, was it a diplomatic faux pas or was she quoted out of context, as she claimed?

The unfortunate remark was part of her reply to a question about a high-profile inspection last month by multiple government agencies of China's deep space station and observatory in Neuquén province. Washington has repeatedly claimed the signals-monitoring station - which plays a key role in China's moon-focused Chang'e programme, including the current Chang'e 6 mission - may have a dual use such as spying.

In a radio interview at the weekend, according to a Buenos Aires Times report, Mondino tried to clarify. What she meant was that all the Chinese staff at the space station were civilians; none wore military uniforms.

Of course, she could also have meant that without a military uniform, it was hard to tell a civilian from a soldier. Americans have been pressuring Buenos Aires to cancel the space station as potentially a Chinese military outfit.

Mondino was trying to play down the significance of the inspection, which has been interpreted as an attempt to placate the Americans.

She said a similar inspection was also carried out at another observatory run by the European Space Agency in Mendoza province.

Given her already difficult job, it's not the kind of controversy she needed. Her boss, the far-right President Javier Milei, got off on the wrong foot with Beijing from the start.

On his campaign trail, he had denounced socialism. At the World Economic Forum, he praised free-market capitalism.

He has reversed a previous plan by his predecessor to join the Brics group of developing countries. He has rejected buying Chinese warplanes in favour of American-designed F-16s from Denmark. He has now applied to become a partner state with Nato.

His tilt back towards the United States has been a serious setback for Beijing. But it's not risk-free for Milei either.

China is the country's second biggest trading partner, after Brazil.

Milei once branded Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a "communist". But he has since moderated his rhetoric. He was elected to rescue the economy and the peso, when both were in free fall. It's not wise to upset the leadership of your two largest trading partners.

Milei faces the same problem that many other countries face: they want business with China but security from the United States.

But both superpowers are increasingly playing hardball. Beijing has reportedly told Buenos Aires it can't expect economic cooperation under worsening diplomatic relations.

Mondino's latest visit was to rescue that relationship.

"No matter how Argentina's internal political situation changes, its friendly policy towards China will not change," she told her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

They both know that's not quite true, but it's a signal the two sides can still do business.

Beijing can't apply the same high pressure it has been exerting on the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. It must recognise that, with the exceptions of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, no country in the Western hemisphere would go to bat for China at the risk of upsetting Uncle Sam.

Maintaining good trade relations may be all Beijing can reasonably expect from Argentina under Milei.

The "wild man" of Argentine politics may yet manage to have it both ways.