Argentina's President Néstor Kirchner led a delegation to China from 28 June to 2 July comprising several top cabinet ministers as well as some 250 businessmen. At the end of the trip, the government hailed it as 'the most important trade mission in Argentina's history'. Kirchner himself said he was 'deeply satisfied' and gave his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, '12 marks out of 10'.

The main emphasis of the visit was how to increase trade and business links between the two countries. At present, commerce is dominated by Argentina's sales of agricultural goods to China, predominantly soya products. Trade between the two countries rose 122% in 2003; soya products accounted for 84% of Argentina's contribution. Kirchner and his delegation were keen to diversify Argentina's exports, and they examined ways of increasing cooperation in services and industry.

Ministers and businessmen on both sides discussed investment opportunities covering a range of sectors. For instance, China is considering an investment of US$65m for the building of a port facility in Santa Fe from where soya and other products can be exported.

On a wider scale, Argentina also promised to look into granting China 'market-economy status', while in return Beijing said it would support Argentina in its bid to restructure its US$88bn defaulted commercial-debt. Beijing also thanked Argentina for supporting its "One China" policy over Taiwan, while Kirchner was equally grateful for China's support for Argentina's claim on the Falkland Islands. In all, the Argentine delegation said that it has achieved far more than it had expected during the visit, and it hailed the warmth of ties that existed between the two countries.

It is important that Argentina is on good terms with China in order to ensure Beijing does not alter the rules of the game as far as trade is concerned. In mid June China blocked imports of Brazilian soya, supposedly on the grounds that it was contaminated. The consensus is, however, that Chinese purchasers had balked at paying such high prices for soya as the price had fallen since the deal was arranged. The incident was resolved, but only after Brazil lost an estimated US$1.2bn. Producers in Argentina, Brazil, and the US have asked their respective governments to take complaints to the WTO.

In spite of the government's satisfaction with the visit, foreign minister Rafael Bielsa stressed that the job was not yet done. He recalled the fact that Kirchner's visit to China was the fifth undertaken by an Argentine leader; his predecessors Jorge Rafael Videla, Raúl Alfonsí­n, Carlos Menem, and Fernando de la Rúa all travelled to Beijing before him and each spoke enthusiastically about a new age of Sino-Argentine relations.

According to Bielsa, it will not be until Kirchner's fourth visit to China that people can talk of success. At least Bielsa can be happy that China is willing to meet Argentina halfway; it has been confirmed that Hu Jintao will travel to Argentina from 16-18 November.