Xi to meet Uruguay’s Orsi in first Latin America-China visit since US capture of Maduro

Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi will travel to China next week, in what is expected to be the first visit by a Latin American leader to Beijing since the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an early January operation. Beijing says the trip will focus on strengthening political dialogue and expanding economic cooperation.

The state visit will run from February 1 to 7, according to China’s foreign ministry, and comes at a tense moment in the western hemisphere following the US operation in Venezuela.

Uruguay will seek to deepen its commercial ties with China without upsetting the internal balance of the South American trade bloc Mercosur, which comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“We expect and believe that, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, this visit will play a positive role in promoting the development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Uruguay,” Guo Jiakun, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Monday.

China has been Uruguay’s top export destination for more than a decade, buying large volumes of beef, soybeans and cellulose, and officials in Montevideo say the visit is designed to strengthen that economic corridor.