Heine Talks China’s Relationship to Ecuador Amid Recent Beijing Visit
In an interview for CGTN America, Jorge Heine, former Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies and Chilean ambassador to China, India, and South Africa, discussed the deepening trade relationship between China and Latin America with regards to the recent visit to Beijing from President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa.
During this visit, China’s President, Xi Jinping emphasized that Latin America and the Caribbean must remain a “zone of peace,” free from outside interference and with the full right to choose their own international partners. To this, Heine added that the combined realities of very few interstate conflicts and the Tlatelolco agreement, which bans nuclear weapons in the region, are significant assets of Latin America that they do not want to lose.
Heine also highlighted the rapid expansion of trade and technological cooperation. He highlighted Noboa’s unusually long eight-day state visit to China, which, to him, reveals the importance both sides place on the relationship. Ecuador’s free trade agreement with China, in effect since 2024, has helped push bilateral trade to $17 billion, up sharply from the previous year, with further double‑digit growth in the first half of the current year. More broadly, China–Latin America trade surpassed $300 billion in the same period. Heine reflected,
“This shows the extraordinary dynamism and potential of China-Latin American trade.”
Looking ahead, Heine stresses that the relationship is increasingly about technology as well as trade, with major opportunities in AI and digital technologies, and suggests that “the sky is the limit” for what China and Latin America can achieve together.
Watch the full segment here.
A former research professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Jorge Heine is a diplomat, international relations scholar, and lawyer. He is currently a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute. He has served as an ambassador of Chile to China, India, and South Africa. Heine has written over fifteen books, including The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition (2025), which provides insights on how the Global South can navigate the changing diplomatic landscape amid the U.S.-China rivalry.