Argentina can’t do it, China says. Yet it can.
The headline of the November 20, 2023 Global Times article declares: “Decoupling with China impossible amid Argentina’s economic woes, but ties likely to enter trial period with far-right Milei’s election win: experts.” Ah, experts.
One “couples with” and “decouples from.” But imperfect grammar is the least of the problems here. Like People’s Daily, Global Times is a propaganda outlet of the Chinese Communist Party. The “experts” are the CCP officials who tell GT what to say and which “experts” to quote. And the expertise has some gaps.
According to GT’s experts, Argentina is too poor and ravaged to cut loose from China.
The victory of fiery right-wing candidate Javier Milei in the Argentine presidential election will pose some challenges for the country’s ties with China as bilateral relations may enter a trial period until both sides find more common interests, said some Chinese experts.
Meanwhile, they argued that it is less likely for Argentina to decouple from China given that the president-elect aims to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty, despite the fact he had made some harsh remarks related to China during the election race.
The expert understanding of the CCP experts apparently does not include any very profound familiarity with the causes of prosperity, such as economic freedom. Milei has pledged to expand economic freedom by radically rolling back governmental interference in the economy.
Many in Argentina oppose such liberalization. For this and other reasons, a Milei-led Argentine government may fail to decouple Argentina from China. But not because such decoupling is “impossible.” No law of nature ordains that a country can flourish only if super-glued to China and its predatory policies. A socialism-encumbered society can return to freedom and prosperity even without helping to enable a totalitarian state.
