Slowly and quietly, China is cornering key areas of the commodities sector.

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China, Chile ink mining, banking pacts on Xi visit

June 10, 2011

Reuters - SANTIAGO – Chile and China signed agreements to increase cooperation in mining, banking and telecommunications during a visit by China's Vice-President Xi Jinping on Thursday.

A delegation headed by Xi, tipped to succeed Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2013, signed a "strategic cooperation" agreement between state copper giant Codelco and China Minmetals at a ceremony hosted by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.

The governments also confirmed financial cooperation and development funding accords between Chile's Banco Estado and China Development Bank, both state-owned.

Xi is near the end of a low-key regional tour that aims to boost ties with commodity-rich Latin America.

Xi said he wanted China and Chile "to find ways to deepen and broaden our economic and trade cooperation."

"We are ready to work with our Chilean partners to ensure stable, long-lasting cooperation of equal benefit for both parties," he said through a Spanish language translator.

China, a top importer of commodities, is by far the biggest buyer of copper from Chile, the world's No. 1 producer of the metal used in the manufacture of goods from cars to refrigerators, and power lines to cages used in salmon farming.

Chinese companies signed deals to buy nearly $530-million in Uruguayan soy, wool, dairy products and other goods on Wednesday during Xi's stop in Montevideo.

China also signed a letter of intent to refurbish a Cuban oil refinery and agreed to open a new credit line between the two communist-run countries in accords signed on Sunday in Havana, where Xi began his Latin American visit.

Through the agreements, China looks ready to play a major role in the development of Cuban oil, including the island's soon-to-be explored fields in the Gulf of Mexico, which is likely to raise eyebrows in the nearby United States.

Chinese economic ties with Latin America are booming and its trade with the region totaled $180-billion last year, up 50% from 2009, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.