FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Time for Mexico To Join the Belt and Road Initiative

Oct. 3, 2018 (EIRNS)—Dialogue is intensifying in Mexico on what it could mean for the country’s future were it to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In an opinion piece in China Daily’s Spanish-language edition Sept. 29, Prof. Arturo Montero of the University of Tepeyac in Mexico, argues that Mexico would benefit greatly from joining the BRI. After reviewing the history of the ancient Silk Road, including the role of the Manila Galleons, or “Nao de China” that departed from the Philippines to arrive at Mexico’s Pacific port of Acapulco in the 17th century, Montero reports that China’s presence in Ibero-America today is increasingly important and has led to significant cooperation between these two regions of the world.

“Undoubtedly, there are many of us in the world who wish to see a Latin America freed from poverty and disease; we don’t want to see our youth migrating by the thousands to the United States ... we’re losing our greatest resource.... I’m sure that the New Silk Road is the necessary component to achieve the development of my country and prosperity of the world.”

Similarly, Liu Baocheng, director of the Center for Business Ethics at the International Business and Economics University of China, recommends that, given recent developments around the signing of a new Mexico-Canada-U.S. trade deal, now would be the time for Mexico to join the BRI. By joining the Belt and Road, he said, according to the Sept. 30 El Financiero, Mexico could expand cooperation in the field of technological innovation and jointly build infrastructure projects, while promoting service industries and tourism. Obtaining loans would be facilitated through the BRI and Mexico could take advantages of the training of personnel and scholarships that China offers to government officials, professionals and students in many different fields.