Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou, during his state visit to China on Nov. 20-24. The two agreed to raise the relationship to a comprehensive strategic relationship, and Uruguay agreed to join the Belt and Road Initiative. China had provided Uruguay with vaccines during the Covid epidemic, and trade between the two, which have enjoyed 35 years of relations, has been on the increase. The two Presidents witnessed the signing of the BRI agreement. Xi expressed the wish that Uruguay would work to strengthen the relationship between China and Latin America and the relationship between China and Mercosur, or the Southern Common Market, of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, plus seven associated South American countries.