QUITO — Cooperation between China and countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean is founded on mutual benefit, not European-style neocolonialism, Ecuadorian officials and experts said.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Marcelo Fernandez, Ecuador’s former deputy minister for foreign affairs, said he believed China’s deepening ties with other developing and emerging countries have more to do with South-South cooperation, than a desire to impose hegemony.
“Neocolonialism has been left behind. I don’t think the cooperation between China and Africa is neocolonialism. It is simply mutually beneficial cooperation,” said Fernandez.
“Obviously, we are talking about cooperation between a stronger, more advanced country and a less developed continent. But this type of cooperation cannot be seen as a threat, because it’s about bilateral cooperation,” he added.
China and the 33 member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) represent different strengths that complement each other, said Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino.
“Latin America, full of natural resources, (has) steady growth and political stability and China, a country on the path to incredible growth, has financial resources and the development of science, technology and human talents,” said Patino.
In addition, said Patino, China has shown its disposition to establish ties founded on mutual respect.
“It has shown that in the way it cooperates with Latin American countries. It’s not conditional, it’s always (marked) by respect,” Patino added.
Jose Ayala Lasso, Ecuador’s former minister of foreign affairs, said China’s cooperation with other countries must be viewed in the right context.
China has worked in the past two decades to strengthen ties with a number of regions around the world, and those efforts are paying off, said Lasso, adding countries like Ecuador should implement similar policies.