As soon as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner landed in Beijing last week she began lauding new deals with what she called the world’s “No. 1 economy,” ranging from two proposed nuclear power plants to joint space exploration.
With her country’s economy contracting and its supply of dollars dwindling, Fernandez arrived Feb. 2 looking for help from China, which has already lent Argentina $14 billion since 2007. By the end of her trip last Thursday, the two countries had agreed on $6.8 billion of financing for the construction of two hydroelectric dams and a railway, according to Chinese state media.
