MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei's trip to China announced but not confirmed

During his appearance at the G7 Summit in Italy, Milei is scheduled to hold one-on-one talks with fewer world leaders than Brazil's Lula

After reaching the presidency of Argentina on diatribes against “lefties” and “Communists,” it was reported Thursday in Buenos Aires that Javier Milei would be traveling to Beijing for a meeting on July 4 with Xi Jinping, who insisted on the South American leader's presence for the signing of the extension of a US$ 5 billion currency swap that saved the Libertarian administration from maturities this month and the next.

 The news went viral Thursday afternoon with no confirmation earlier in the day from Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni during his routine morning press conference. “There is nothing confirmed, neither date nor trip, which does not imply that it will not happen,” he had said.

According to Buenos Aires outlets, China intends to relaunch its ties with Argentina through a face-to-face encounter with Milei after the Libertarian administration turned its back on Beijing as soon as it took office on Dec. 10, 2023, to the point of turning down the invitation to join the BRICS bloc and opening up to the United States and Israel.

The possibility of Milei traveling to China gained strength after Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos met Thursday in Buenos Aires with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wei.

In addition to China, Milei has repeatedly voiced his contempt towards regimes such as the ones in Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and Nicaragua. He was also very critical of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with whom he will be sharing a panel on Friday at the G7 Summit in Italy, which will also be attended by the Argentine-born Pope Francis. However, Milei is not scheduled to hold any one-on-one meeting with either.

Both South American leaders are participating as guests at the event bringing together the heads of government of allegedly the most advanced economies in the world, although neither China nor Russia belong to the group.

Milei landed Thursday in Italy straight from Buenos Aires after waiting for his Bases Law bill to be passed by the Senate while Lula was already in Europe attending an International Labor Organization gathering in bordering Switzerland.

While Milei is expected to speak about Artificial Intelligence (AI), Lula plans to insist on the importance of fighting inequalities worldwide and taxing the super-rich, which will be the motto of the G20 Summit later this year in Rio de Janeiro.

The Brazilian leader is to hold talks with Prime Ministers Georgia Meloni of Italy and Narendra Modi of India, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye.

Milei has only arranged to speak with Macron, Meloni, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. From there, Milei is to travel to the Swiss town of Bürgenstock to participate in the Global Summit for Peace in Ukraine summoned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.