On May 13, 2026, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun gave a special response at a regular press conference on the one-year anniversary of the launch of the five major projects of the China Latin America Community of Shared Future. In 2025, the trade volume between China and Latin America reached a historic high of 549 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 18.3% in the first quarter of 2026. China's direct investment stock in Latin America accounts for about one-fifth of China's total outbound investment stock, making Latin America the second largest region for China's outbound investment after Asia. A definite and extensive trade network is weaving and forming on the other side of the earth.

Promotion of the Five Major Engineering Systems

  One year later, Guo Jiakun used five key words to review his performance report: the Solidarity Project to enhance political mutual trust, and five Latin American countries joining the International Mediation Institute; The development project has strengthened the ties of interests. China and Colombia signed cooperation documents on jointly building the the Belt and Road, and signed construction cooperation plans with Grenada and Ecuador respectively; The Civilization Project promotes exchanges and mutual learning, and Chinese literary and artistic groups have entered multiple Latin American countries; The peace project maintains common security, and China and Brazil issue a joint statement on the Ukrainian crisis; The People's Livelihood Project benefits the general public, and China has implemented visa free policies for multiple countries.

Changes in Trade and Investment Structure

The trade volume between China and Latin America has reached a historic high of 549 billion US dollars, and has achieved three consecutive jumps since 2016, with an average increase of one billion yuan every three years. As of the end of 2024, China's direct investment stock in Latin America accounted for about one-fifth of China's total outbound investment stock, with a flow growth of 15.4% in 2024. The Ministry of Commerce pointed out that both sides will pay more attention to the integrated layout of localized production, local supply chain, and local employment, and the focus of cooperation will shift from single product output to co construction of industrial ecology. At present, the number of Latin American countries that have signed the the Belt and Road cooperation document with China has increased to 24. Keywords: the Belt and Road news network, five major projects, industrial globalization

Visa free direct flights bring people closer together

Starting from June 2025, China will implement a visa free policy for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, marking the first expansion of China's visa free policy to Latin America. On May 7, 2026, Brazil announced visa free access for Chinese citizens. The number of weekly passenger flights between China and Latin America has increased to 24, and the Shanghai Buenos Aires route has set a new record for the world's longest one-way route. The industry signal is also clear: Central and South America have become the strongest growth poles for China's automobile exports, with BYD and Geely leading the way with a growth rate of over 400% in the region; The China Latin America Infrastructure Cooperation Forum is about to be held in Macau; Ecological going global is replacing product going global, and enterprises with the ability to do localized operations are entering a strategic window.Editor/Gao Xue