Interview: Bolivia benefits from win-win cooperation with China, says former FM

Photo taken on Feb. 7, 2020 shows the opening ceremony of the Parapeti Bridge on the under-construction El Espino-Charagua-Boyuibe Highway in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

"That's why we always stress this 'win-win' principle and China's real cooperation," Huanacuni said. "China has never imposed any conditions on us. It has simply been within the framework of bilateral cooperation and the strategic relationship."

LA PAZ, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Since adopting an independent economic development model, Bolivia has been able to forge win-win strategic ties with China and reject the onerous conditions Western financial institutions place on cooperation, said former Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Huanacuni laid out the differences in cooperation and credits Bolivia has had access to even since then Bolivian President Evo Morales decided to abandon the neoliberal prescriptions imposed by the West and to apply instead the New Economic, Social, Communitary, Productive Model in 2006.

In 2020, Luis Arce was sworn in as Bolivia's president with the aim of continuing the model that had brought the country growth, lower poverty, stability and lower inflation.

Those achievements, Huanacuni said, were made possible partly out of more just international relations, such as Bolivia's "fraternal ties" with China, which have allowed the South American country to embrace greater development over the past years.

In June 2018, China and Bolivia agreed to establish a strategic partnership to promote greater development of bilateral relations at a new historical starting point.

"That's why we always stress this 'win-win' principle and China's real cooperation," Huanacuni said. "China has never imposed any conditions on us. It has simply been within the framework of bilateral cooperation and the strategic relationship."

The former foreign minister voiced confidence that the rest of the world can also benefit from the new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation that China has been actively promoting. ■