Interview: Chile keen to be China's gateway to LatAm, says president

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- "Chile and China are neighbors across the sea. The Belt and Road cooperation has brought us closer to each other," said Chilean President Gabriel Boric in an exclusive interview with Xinhua here on Tuesday.

Chile is looking forward to becoming the gateway for China to Latin America, Boric said in the interview.

The Chilean president came to China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) and pay a state visit.

Chile is the only Latin American and Caribbean country whose head of state has attended three consecutive editions of the forum.

In this regard, Boric said that Chile prizes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as the idea, which originated from the ancient Silk Road, has been put into practice and has been given new global characteristics, promoting peaceful exchanges and mutual understanding among different countries.

"After the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2018, cooperation between Chile and China has been increasing significantly," Boric said. "We believe that we still have a lot of room for development, and the relationship between the two countries will only grow stronger."

On the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative in recent years, Boric said that the spirit of cooperation and sharing embodied in these initiatives will bring positive changes to the world and push the global political and economic governance system toward a multipolar direction.

"We greatly appreciate the new model of global governance, which is based on the harmonious coexistence of peoples of all countries, without hegemonic and expansionist pretensions," Boric said.

In his opinion, many Western narratives about China are riddled with prejudices. "The Chinese model as understood in the West is full of prejudices. When you go directly to approach China and understand it, you will find that all these prejudices have collapsed or clarified", said the Chilean president.

At the same time, Boric commended China's development achievements in the last decade.

"We are very interested in learning more about China's experience, including China's successful practices in areas such as poverty reduction, the fight against corruption, and pollution control", Boric added.

During the interview, Boric reiterated his support for China's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as well as the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), saying that it is "truism" that these multilateral cooperation mechanisms open their doors to an economic and a science, technology and innovation powerhouse like China.

On cooperation with China, Boric said that Chile welcomes Chinese investment in both traditional and digital infrastructure construction.

"In a world that is already multipolar, where no one can claim to have hegemonic pretensions as they once had, Chile is committed to the principles of technological neutrality and neutrality of the origin of investments. We have every right to decide to establish and develop relations with any country in the world," he said.

In developing relations with China, Chile has always been at the forefront of Latin American countries, setting many "firsts" in the history of China-Latin America relations.

Chile was the first Latin American country to sign a bilateral agreement with China on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the first to recognize China's full market economy status, the first to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with China, and take the lead in upgrading it.

Currently, China is Chile's largest trading partner, largest export destination and largest source of imports in the world, far ahead of all Chile's other trading partners. And China is also one of Chile's major sources of investment.

"The door to deepening Chile-China friendship is always open," Boric said.