The 31st Meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers of the Andean Community (Spanish: La Comunidad Andino, CAN) was held in Bogotá, the capital city of Columbia. Members at the meeting voted with agreement, accepting People’s Republic of China as an Observer Country of CAN. This marked a new phase of China-Latin America Relations. Tianjiao JIANG, Associate Director of The Center of BRICS Countries Studies, Fudan University and Associate Professor of Fudan Development Institute, when interviewed by South China Morning Post, stated that this identity of Observer Country will deepen economic and investment ties between China and Latin America, marking a crucial step in advancing the strategic layout of the Global South. He emphasized that China, through institutionalized participation in regional affairs, has not only strengthened the collective voice of developing nations but also provided Latin American countries with a cooperative platform to counterbalance U.S. unilateral tariff policies. In this context, China may leverage the CAN mechanism to provide stable export channels for Latin America, thereby advancing South-South cooperation and upholding the multilateral order. In additional, JIANG believes that this move will further strengthen China's network of influence in Latin America and the Global South, providing institutional support for its status as a global power while fostering complementary and mutually beneficial cooperation between industries such as artificial intelligence and electric vehicles and Latin America's abundant resources.

Translated by Ruihan CHEN

Full text in Chinese available at:

https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/72/1e/c18965a750110/page.htm