When Mexican Foreign Secretary Roberto Velasco Alvarez met Sept. 7 with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing, he “reiterated Mexico’s commitment to maintaining a constructive relationship with China,” the Mexican Foreign Ministry’s readout reported. It added that the two reviewed “opportunities for broadening cooperation between their two countries in areas of common interest,” with an eye to “establishing a joint roadmap for the coming years.” Velasco named health, education, science, innovation, the environment, and rural development as Mexico’s priority areas for expanding cooperation.
Before their meeting, Velasco had participated by video hookup in the ceremony opening a Mexican consulate in Chongqing, the first new consulate opened in China in two decades. “This ceremony is a celebration of the friendship between our peoples… This consulate will help strengthen bilateral relations and foster closer ties with stakeholders in the region,” Velasco told the ceremony. Chongqing “is an exceptional embodiment of the energy, capacity for transformation, innovation, and forward-looking vision of contemporary China.”
No new projects have been announced from Velasco’s visit, but the meeting delivered the message that Mexico intends to maintain and strengthen its long-standing friendly relations with China, despite the Trump administration’s stated policy of driving China out of Ibero-America and the Caribbean and the huge pressure that Washington is applying to Mexico in particular. One consideration may be that Mexico could soon face a payment crisis resulting from its enormous debt burden, which is rising as American interest rates soar, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum may wish to keep her economic options open.
