China is asking its South American partner: where’s the beef?
be a perfect match, like a steak and a glass of Malbec. Argentina has fertile land and skilled farmers. China has 1.4bn mouths to feed. Bilateral trade should be sizzling. But Argentine policy is so erratic that China is often left asking: where’s the beef?
Smarter engagement would yield huge benefits. Argentina desperately needs capital; China has deep pockets. China craves minerals; Argentina has mountains of them. Rather than exploit those economic opportunities, Argentina’s current government of prickly left-leaning Peronists has given priority to political and diplomatic ties with China, which alarms the United States.
Chinese investments that generate headlines often run into trouble. A year ago China announced an $8bn deal to build a nuclear-power plant near Buenos Aires. It was eager to show off its Hualong One nuclear technology, which so far produces power only in China itself. It also hoped to lock Argentina into the kind of long-term relationship that nuclear projects require.
The incentive to invest in energy is dulled by price controls. Households pay hardly anything for electricity and waste it copiously. Power cuts are common. Many of Argentina’s recent ventures with China are long on political symbolism and short on economic substance. Some of these have irked the United States. Last year Mr Fernández announced that Argentina would join the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese global infrastructure scheme. The agreement included no new financial commitments.
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