Xi's speech at CELAC summit inspiring for mutually-beneficial cooperation: Latin American experts

MEXICO CITY - Chinese President Xi Jinping's virtual address at the 6th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), will help boost confidence for mutually-beneficial bilateral cooperation, regional experts have said.

Xi said in his speech delivered on Saturday that over the past decade, CELAC has played an important role in maintaining peace and stability and promoting common development in the region, and that China attaches great importance to developing relations with CELAC, and supports CELAC in coordinating regional countries to carry out cooperation and cope with challenges.

Eduardo Regalado, senior researcher at the International Policy Research Center of Cuba, said that the ties between Latin America and China are necessary and essential for the region, as the two sides both uphold "equality, mutual benefit and the promotion of the well-being of both peoples."

Regalado said Xi's words showed the recognition of CELAC's efforts in advancing Latin American integration.

Miguel Rodriguez Mackay, president of the Peruvian Institute of Law and International Relations, said that Xi's message demonstrated that China has always sought to forge closer ties with Latin America and the Carribean in the spirit of "reciprocal, mutual benefits" and "on the basis of equality."

Mauricio Santoro, head of the Department of International Relations at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said CELAC has become the main forum for cooperation between China and Latin America and its importance lies in the fact that it is the only organization that brings together all the regional countries to facilitate international dialogue.

Raquel Isamara Leon de la Rosa, professor and researcher of international business at the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla in Mexico, said that Xi's participation in the meeting showed the importance that China has within the evolutionary process of CELAC, especially since the China-CELAC Forum itself has helped, over the years, to create a continuous and evolving dialogue.

Fernando Reyes Matta, Chile's former ambassador to China, said that Xi's virtual address at the CELAC summit helped reaffirm the commitment to dialogue in the construction of a world of cooperation in the 21st century.

Echoing Xi's remark that "China-Latin America friendship is time-honored and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people," the experts commended the vital role China had played in the development of the region, voicing high expectations for further quality cooperation with China.