Peace could break out after Buenos Aires meeting
30/08/2007
China's ambassador to Argentina, Zhang Tuo, emerged from a high-level meeting with Argentinian officilas yesterday saying that relations between the two countries had never been better.
Contrary to this view, the need for the meeting arose because an atmosphere of conflict has been building up for two weeks.
Argentina announced on August 17 that it would restrict imports of a group of products, including leathergoods, from Asia. It said it wanted to protect local producers from "commercial disloyalty", in other words, to encourage consumers in Argentina to buy local goods by making it harder for importers to stock cheaper products from manufacturers in Asia, with China, clearly, the main focus.
The Chinese government threatened to take its complaints to the World Trade Organisation. It is not yet clear if yesterday's talks will be enough to stop this from happening.
Argentinian government sources said after the meeting that because trade between the two countries was growing so quickly, it was only to be expected that "matters that require discussion" should crop up from time to time.
