Visit can help enhance Sino-Peruvian comprehensive strategic partnership

As President Xi Jinping has said, the development of the Asia-Pacific relies on openness and inclusiveness, learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and sharing what we have, rather than confrontational or beggar-thy-neighbor practices.

That's how China and Peru have become close partners in different fields to each other despite their geographical distance. Peru was one of the first batch of countries in Latin America to found diplomatic relations with New China, to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with the country, and to sign a package of free trade agreements with it.

The two countries have maintained frequent high-level visits, and steady and productive economic and trade ties, and intensive exchanges in such fields as culture, science and technology, education, tourism and so on. In November 2008, China and Peru established a strategic partnership. In April 2013, the bilateral relationship was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

At present, the two countries have established cooperation mechanisms such as political consultations between their foreign ministries, a strategic dialogue on economic cooperation, a mixed committee on economy and trade, a joint committee on agriculture, and a mixed committee on science and technology. These exchange channels and mechanisms have proved effective and play important roles in deepening mutual understanding and mutual trust between Beijing and Lima, maintaining the stability of the bilateral relationship and keeping the development of relations on the right track.

Despite the vicissitudes of world affairs, the two sides understand each other and coordinate closely with one another in international affairs. It is fair to say that the complementarity of their economic, industry and trade structures, and their mutual respect and mutual learning from each other's culture and civilization have made the two countries close partners in various fields in spite of the geographical distance between them.

In China, Peru is regarded as a neighbor across the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the Latin American countries where Chinese people first arrived and where the largest number of Chinese settlers live. Peruvians of Chinese descent currently account for about one-tenth of the total population of Peru. The Peruvian people affectionately call the Chinese "fellow countrymen". In May this year, Peru announced that Feb 1 of each year would be designated as the "Peru-China Fraternity Day" to express its recognition of the special contributions of Chinese immigrants.

That being said, President Xi's five-day visit to Peru starting on Wednesday, the first since his last visit in 2016, looks set to further deepen and expand the practical across-the-board cooperation between the two countries, bringing more tangible benefits to the two peoples. By injecting fresh impetus into the bilateral relationship, the visit will help raise bilateral relations to a higher level, and also enhance the overall relations between China and Latin America as a whole.

China is Peru's largest trading partner, largest export market and largest source of imports, and Peru is China's fourth-largest trading partner in Latin America. In 2023, the bilateral trade volume reached $37.69 billion. And China's superlarge market offers huge opportunities to agricultural products and mineral resources from Peru.

China and Peru signed a free trade agreement in 2009 and a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019. Bilateral negotiations on upgrading their free trade agreement, which started in 2018, were substantially completed last month. These have laid a solid foundation for the two sides to take advantage of Xi's visit to make their win-win collaboration in infrastructure, technology, communications, culture, tourism, the digital economy and green transformation, and other fields closer and more fruitful.

Both the Peruvian and Chinese people value the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. President Xi's visit is expected to further strengthen the dialogue between Peru and China on environmental protection. It is also anticipated that the visit will further stimulate the world's thinking on issues such as peace and development, and promote the construction of a community with a shared future between China and Latin America.