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Carol Yang

China firmly supports Latin American nations in upholding their autonomy and pursuing international cooperation based on their own interests, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Ecuadorian counterpart Daniel Noboa on Tuesday.
“Latin American and Caribbean nations should have freedom to choose their international partners without outside interference,” Xi said, in a veiled criticism of US interventions in the region since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
Like many of its Latin American neighbours, Ecuador is trying to balance its relations between China and the United States in the face of this growing assertiveness from Washington.
“The status of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace should not be shaken, and the path of development for Latin American and Caribbean countries should not be interrupted”, Xi said, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The zone of peace was a declaration signed by 33 Latin American and Caribbean states in 2014, in which they rejected the use of force to settle disputes, banned nuclear weapons and rejected foreign military intervention.
Noboa said Ecuador was willing to “be a good friend to China on the other side of the Pacific”, according to Xinhua.
China could be key to Noboa’s efforts to revive the country’s sluggish economy, which is largely based on the export of commodities such as oil, gold, shrimp, beef and other agricultural products.
The two countries signed a free-trade agreement in 2023, months before Noboa came to power, and China is now Ecuador’s second-largest trading partner, its biggest non-oil trade partner, its primary creditor and a significant source of foreign direct investment.
According to China’s official figures, trade grew by 20.1 per cent year-on-year to reach US$9.83 billion in the first half of this year, fuelled by growing demand for Chinese vehicles, machinery and electrical equipment.


Ecuador said last week that Noboa hoped to “advance priority initiatives in trade, investment, cooperation, infrastructure, energy, technology, and sustainable development” during the week-long trip.
Noboa, who arrived in the Chinese capital on Sunday, will also meet Premier Li Qiang and the country’s third-ranking official Zhao Leji.
Xi said the two countries should actively explore new areas of economic cooperation – including the digital economy, green development, new energy and artificial intelligence – to benefit businesses and consumers.
Xi also said they should deepen political mutual trust and intensify exchanges among governments, legislative bodies and political parties, according to Xinhua.
The country’s main agricultural export is shrimp, and regaining access to the Chinese market is likely to be a major priority, according to Ecuadorian news outlet Primicias.
Over the past year or so, 14 Ecuadorian shrimp producers have had imports suspended following a series of Chinese customs inspections focusing on food preservatives.
The South American country is also home to a number of Chinese construction projects, including a controversial hydroelectric plant built by state-owned Sinohydro Corp at a cost of more than US$2.2 billion.
The Coca Codo Sinclair dam supplies around 30 per cent of Ecuador’s electricity, but a series of cracks in the structure and technical failures led Quito to launch an international arbitration case against the company in 2021.
The tribunal awarded Ecuador a US$400 million compensation settlement in April, under which PowerChina, Sinohydro’s parent company, is expected to take over the administration, operation and maintenance of the site for 25 years, Reuters reported.
Ecuador also has a national surveillance network named ECU911 that uses Chinese video monitoring and facial-recognition technology.
The dam’s builder, CEIEC, was sanctioned by the US in 2020 for “undermining democracy in Venezuela” by restricting internet services and conducting digital surveillance against political opponents.

The Chinese firm has since lost its contract to repair and upgrade the network due to concerns about performance and security, with Ecuador looking to firms from other countries to step in, The Diplomat reported last year.
However, Noboa has taken a pragmatic approach to Beijing, telling last year’s “Summer Davos” in Tianjin that the “era of ideology” was over.
Meanwhile, he has sought to cultivate close ties with Trump, often praising his foreign policy and attending his inauguration.
In March, the FBI opened its first office in Ecuador, as the two countries’ armed forces conducted joint operations against “designated terrorist organisations” .
It was the first time that the US had engaged in a land-based campaign against South American drug cartels – a policy the Pentagon has since said would be extended to other countries in the region.
But Noboa suffered a major setback last November when voters rejected a referendum proposal that would have allowed the US to re-establish military bases in the region.


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China-Latin America relations

Xi hits out at ‘outside interference’ in Latin America in meeting with Ecuador’s president

China’s President Xi Jinping and Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa greet children waving flags at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Photo: AP

The Chinese-built Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project was hit by a number of problems. Photo: Xinhua

Ecuador’s Noboa courts China on shrimp, copper without threatening US ties

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa arrives in Beijing on August 16 to begin a state visit to China. Photo: Xinhua

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth met Noboa at the Pentagon in June. Photo: Reuters 

Ecuador voters reject return of US bases, in blow to Trump ally Noboa

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa and US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visiting an airbase in Manta, Ecuador this month. Photo: Reuters

The facilities that housed a US forward operating post in Manta, Ecuador. Photo: AFP

People in Guayaquil, Ecuador celebrate following the first results of the referendum. Photo: AFP

Drug kingpin ‘Pipo’ in Spanish custody. Photo: Spanish National Police via AFP

Rubio pledges US aid for Ecuador, to ‘wage war’ on gangs designated as terrorists

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) meets Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa at the presidential palace in Quito on Thursday. Photo: AP

Soldiers stand guard outside the Palacio de Carondelet during the visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: Reuters

The USS Sampson departing Panama on Tuesday. Washington has deployed warships in the south Caribbean, targeting criminal cartels in Latin America. Photo: EPA

Ecuador deploying the military on the streets against gangs in 2024. File photo: EPA

News

China

Diplomacy

Chinese leader’s message to Daniel Noboa comes amid increasing US efforts to assert its influence in the region


Chinese leader’s message to Daniel Noboa comes amid increasing US efforts to assert its influence in the region.


Xi hits out at ‘outside interference’ in Latin America in meeting with Ecuador’s president

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chinese leader’s message to Daniel Noboa comes amid increasing US efforts to assert its influence in the region

Chinese leader’s message to Daniel Noboa comes amid increasing US efforts to assert its influence in the region