BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) – China and Uruguay must work together to advance an “equal and orderly multipolar world”, President Xi Jinping told his counterpart Yamandu Orsi on Tuesday, as their nations signed on to cooperate in areas ranging from trade to the environment.
Orsi’s visit to the Chinese capital is the first by a South American leader since the United States invaded Venezuela in January and captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in a raid.
A media pool report quoted Xi as saying that China has helped Latin American and Caribbean nations to “uphold sovereignty, security and development interests, reduce the unstable international situation and “increase unilateral bullying”.
China and Uruguay should “work together to advance an equitable and orderly multipolar world and an inclusive, globally beneficial economic globalization,” Xi said in his remarks.
The meeting comes as Western prime ministers visit China this year, from Britain’s Keir Starr to Canada’s Mark Carney and Finland’s Petteri Orpo.
Orsi said China and Uruguay’s strategic partnership is passing through its “best moment” and called on both nations to “commit to taking it to a new level,” the pool report added.
He is leading a delegation of 150 people, including business leaders, on a visit from Sunday to February 7, which will also tour Shanghai’s business hub.
China and Uruguay signed a declaration on Tuesday deepening their strategic partnership, as well as signing 12 documents on cooperation in areas ranging from science and technology to the environment, intellectual property and meat trade.
Uruguay wants to increase trade in goods, particularly through diversification, and invest more strongly in services and investment, the pool report added.
Francisco Ordínez, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, said the timing of the visit is symbolically important for China.
“For Beijing, hosting Orci … signals that South American countries are eager to engage, despite an increasingly polarized geopolitical environment.”
But Uruguay’s engagement with Beijing is likely to be shaped by U.S. attention in Latin America and concerns about China’s involvement there, said Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America program at the Inter-American Dialogue.
“Following the actions in Venezuela, China and many Latin American nations are weighing the possibility of continued US intervention in the region.”
Global South Ties
“China is willing to deepen and strengthen the construction of a China-Latin American community with a shared future with Uruguay and other regional countries,” Xi said.
It supports Uruguay to take the rotating chairmanship of the Group of 77+, he added, aiming to promote unity in the Global South.
“The world today is undergoing profound changes not seen in a century, the international situation is complex and unstable, and unilateral bullying is on the rise,” Xi said, adding that China has always attached great importance to relations with Latin America.
China was the top destination for Uruguayan exports in 2025, with agricultural products ranging from wood pulp to soybeans and beef.
Uruguay, which has trade savings of $187.1 million with China in the first half of 2025, imports its machinery, electronics and chemicals.
While meat and soy exports have traditionally played a central role in the relationship, sectors such as dairy and service exports have potential, said Diego Telias, a professor at the Universidad ORT Uruguay.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Thomas Derpinghaus and Clarence Fernandez)
