The Dragon Approaches

Don't recall seeing this item in the American mainstream media last Friday:

Joint Press Statement by Governments of Mexico and China

Friday, July 11, 2008 | Press Release

Beijing, China

Summing up his first state visit, President Felipe Calderón said that as a result of his meetings with the three main authorities and businessmen in this Asian country, progress had been made in strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations.

The text of the Joint Press Statement is given below:

1. Mexican President Felipe Calderón paid a state visit to China from July 9 to 12 2008 on the invitation of President of China, Hu Jintao.

2. During the visit, President Calderón held a meeting with President Hu Jintao. The Mexican president also meet with President of the Standing Committee of the National People's Assembly, Wu Bangguo and Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao. In a friendly, cordial atmosphere, the two leaders exchanged views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common interest in which a broad consensus was achieved.

3. The two Heads of State agreed that in recent years, the Binational Strategic Partnership has been developed in a broad, integral fashion and that mutually beneficial, friendly cooperation has yielded positive results. The two leaders agreed to create the Strategic Dialogue Mechanism, in order to strategically reinforce mutual trust and collaboration in relevant issues on the bilateral and multilateral agendas.

4. The Mexico government confirmed the Mexican government’s support of the “Single China” principle as a cornerstone of the bilateral relationship and its respect and support of the Chinese government’s position on the issue of Taiwan. He also confirmed the Mexican government’s position that since Tibet forms part of Chinese territory, the issue concerning this autonomous region constitute a Chinese internal affair. The Chinese president thanked Mexico for its position.

5. Both heads of state hailed the success of the Third Meeting of the Permanent Binational Commission between the Chinese and Mexican governments which took place in Beijing on the same date and agreed to continue improving and reinforcing this mechanism.

6. Both parties hailed the positive advances registered in economic cooperation and binational trade in recent years. They confirmed their willingness to make a greater effort to identify and implement bilateral cooperation actions in the spheres of infrastructure, transport, communications, energy, mining, agriculture, fishing, environmental protection and customs and to encourage and promote investment in both directions, in order to take economic and commercial cooperation to an even higher level.

7. The two leaders expressed their willingness to continue reinforcing binational exchange and cooperation in the areas of education, science and technology, culture, health and medicine, tourism, social development and the prevention of natural disasters, in order to further increase mutual knowledge and friendship between the two countries.

8. Both heads of state continue to reinforce collaboration within the United Nations framework and other international and regional organizations, in order to continue reinforcing multilateralism, to consolidate and preserve the solidarity of the Group of Five and reinforce the coordination of their positions in order to promote an equal, substantial and fruitful dialog with the Group of Eight and maintain dialogue, communication and coordination on crucial issues such as the United Nations reform, climate change, South-South cooperation, energy and food security and human rights, among other things.

9. President Felipe Calderón wished China success in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Shanghai 2010 Universal Exhibition, and confirmed Mexico's participation in the latter.

10. The Mexican and Chinese leaders witnessed the signing of the following bilateral instruments: Extradition Treaty, Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments, Protocol for Inspection, Quarantine and Veterinary Health Requirements for Pork Imports and Exports; Technical Coopration Agreement on Assistance and Social Welfare; 2008-2010 Cooperation Program on Social Development and Minutes of Third Meeting of Permanent Mexico-China Binational Commission.

11. President Felipe Calderón expressed his gratitude for the cordial welcome and hospitality offered to himself and the Mexican delegation by President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders during his visit and invited President Hu Jintao to visit Mexico again soon. President Hu Jintao thanked him for the invitation.

Last update:
Friday, July 11, 2008 at 11:32 by Suzanne Stephens Waller.

Here's the Spanish-language version from the PRC's embassy in Mexico.

My favorite part is Paragraph 4:

4. The Mexico government confirmed the Mexican government’s support of the “Single China” principle as a cornerstone of the bilateral relationship and its respect and support of the Chinese government’s position on the issue of Taiwan. He also confirmed the Mexican government’s position that since Tibet forms part of Chinese territory, the issue concerning this autonomous region constitute a Chinese internal affair. The Chinese president thanked Mexico for its position.

In other words, it's muy fabuloso with the Mexican Government as to whatever the PRC wants to do with Taiwan and Tibet - up to and include stomping each "rebel province" into jelly.

Now, if our amigos to the South had some longstanding border grievance against us norteamericanos, the possibility that our strategic enemy and top government lender might reciprocate and support the Mexicans' resolution of those historic "internal affairs" might be of some concern to me.

Thankfully, it's not like, as this 1995 Time magazine article described prior to more recent immigration controversies:

***
...Mexicans see past and present as an eternal tug-of-war with their northern neighbor. Virtually any Mexican high school graduate readily recites a litany of humiliations most Americans ignore: the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo forcing the sale of Mexico's northern half; a 1911 U.S.-supported coup; American invasions in 1914 and 1916; the expulsion of as many as 1 million Mexican immigrants from the U.S. during the 1950s' Operation Wetback...
***

Good thing nothing like a Chinese Communist-Mexican alliance could ever be formed against to the World's Only (Bankrupt) Superpower, well-regarded and universally-respected Friend to All.

That kind of alliance might start working on a multimodal transportation artery from state-of-the-art Mexican containerized shipping ports into the American Midwest and branching from there across the US and into Canada.


Or as shown here:


Tempus fugit.

PS: Many thanks to COMAFNOR, who first discussed this issue with me several years ago.