It was a strong message, among others, reinforcing, in an exaggerated way, that Argentina’s main ally is the USA. And it was also the burial of the rhetoric with Lula, López Obrador, Evo Morales, Maduro and Ortega, from which Alberto Fernández benefited. Now, the impenetrability of the Chinese base in the province of Neuquén has been questioned and, doubling down, Milei has promised to share a port with the USA in the province of Tierra del Fuego, a place where the same was previously promised, but with China.
Returning to the photo: the head of the US Army Southern Command, Laura Richardson, four-star general, was certainly surprised by the special protocol treatment she now received. He got up early, and Milei and the Minister of Defense were already at the Ushuaia base, where the president flew in an extreme gesture of friendship with the USA.
Crowning a successful administration is the American ambassador, Marc Stanley, who found in this remarkable gesture of friendship a reason to appease his anger because Milei did not follow his advice not to meet Trump at a conservative convention in the USA. Stanley, political representative of Trump’s rival in November, focused on the most sensitive issue for Washington: Argentina’s relationship with China. He called for an audit of what the Chinese Army is doing at the secret Neuquén base, which exists because it was approved by Cristina.
First conclusion: the explicit alliance with the US expects something more than rhetorical gestures, although there is not – and never will be – a “symmetric” relationship. Argentina needs investments and for these investments to come, it is necessary to meet conditions that guarantee security and durability. There is still a long way to go for this to happen, although the relative drop in inflation and country risk are data that will have to be monitored closely to see if they become a trend.
Second conclusion: Chinese patience is thousands of years old, but it would be a serious mistake to consider that there will be no gestures of retaliation if Argentina’s distancing increases. China is a major commercial client of Argentina. They say that Brazilian meatpackers are preparing to respond to Chinese demand if Beijing stops buying Argentine meat, with any excuse. And soon the government will have to pay the 5,000 million that the Chinese lent to Sergio Massa. The first installment, of 1.666 million, is due in June.
Is Argentina being used as a small theater of operations for a global friction between the two superpowers? There are doubts about diplomatic predictions of a possible escalation with China. The Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs, Diana Mondino, reiterated that the government will not negotiate with communist countries, as Milei repeats, but she has just returned from a trade mission in Vietnam. Doesn’t Vietnam have a government with communist roots, like China? Vietnam and the USA faced each other in a terrible war, but this historical conflict does not obstruct the current relationship between the two countries.
One last piece of information about Villarruel’s photo with Richardson: the photo is part of the vice president’s strategy to build her own path and her own line within the libertarians. She does not compete with Milei, but with Karina, the president’s sister and right-hand woman, who has the support of the Menem clan.