«--[· Preface ·]--»
During the past seven days, the Latin American country of Colombia and the United States relations, because of the Palestinian issue suddenly turned straight, first the presidential visa was revoked by the United States, then the foreign minister's visa did not survive, the two sides once sword.
Just after the United States did not hesitate to suppress other countries for Israel's sake, Colombia finally understood and began to accelerate its move towards China, and successively released two major signals of goodwill.
«--[· U.S.-Colombia relations have taken a sharp turn for the worse due to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict ·]--»
In September, Colombia's diplomatic relations with the United States experienced an unprecedented storm. The fuse of this crisis is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Colombian President Petro has repeatedly criticized Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip in public, calling them "genocide." This move triggered strong dissatisfaction in the United States.
On September 26, after Petro participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, the U.S. State Department revoked his visa to the United States on the grounds that he "urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence."
Immediately afterwards, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Bielia Vicencio also announced the initiative to give up U.S. visas in protest of the U.S. decision.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia issued a statement accusing the United States of using visas as a "diplomatic weapon" and violating the spirit of relevant United Nations agreements and the norms of international law. Petro even bluntly said that the U.S. government's actions showed that it "no longer abides by international law" and suggested moving the United Nations headquarters away from New York and building it in "a more democratic place."
«--[·Colombia replaces ambassador to China·]--»
While relations with the United States are tense, Colombia has begun to accelerate its move towards China. On September 30, 2025, Petro issued a statement stating that due to the unauthorized changes in his itinerary during his visit to China in May 2025, some embassy officials in China, which undermined the relations between China and Colombia, he decided to replace diplomatic officials of the Embassy in China.
Apparently, this decision was a punishment for the dismissal of embassy officials, but in fact, Petro’s main goal was to take this opportunity to replace a more professional ambassador in China. The current ambassador Sergio Cavrilla, although a close friend of Petro’s promotion, was not a diplomatic professional, but only a film director.
With the deepening of China-Korea relations, the ambassadors of non-professional origin showed their inability to handle complex foreign affairs.Petro's move released a clear signal that Colombia attaches great importance to relations with China and hopes to further promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in various fields by strengthening professional cooperation at the diplomatic level.
In addition to replacing the ambassador to China, Colombia also made another important decision in May 2025: officially joining the high-quality "Belt and Road" family. This decision is a milestone in the sustainable development of the strategic partnership between the two countries on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Colombia. It is also a strategic choice for Colombia to grasp the pulse of the times and conform to the development trend.
Colombia's enthusiasm for joining the Belt and Road Initiative stems from various considerations. From the perspective of national development needs, the concept of the "Belt and Road" initiative is highly consistent with Colombia's national development plan. As of April 30, 2025, Bogotá Metro Line 1, which was built with the participation of China companies, has completed approximately 54% of the construction progress, directly or indirectly creating approximately 13,000 jobs.
After the use of the subway, travel time will be shortened from 3 hours to 27 minutes, and 3 million people are expected to benefit directly or indirectly.In terms of economic and trade exchanges, China has been Colombia’s second largest trading partner for years in a row, while Colombia is China’s fifth largest trading partner in the Latin American region.
In the first four months of 2025, China imported and exported 483.4 billion yuan to Colombia, which grew by 8.5% compared to the same period, the scale was the highest in history. agricultural products cooperation is especially bright, Colombia has become the third largest source of imports of Chinese coffee and fresh blossoms, only coffee imports reached 4.7 billion yuan, and fresh blossoms imports also increased by 14.6%.
In addition, Colombia hopes to diversify international cooperation by joining the Belt and Road initiative and open up new paths for participation in global governance.As Petro said, joining the Belt and Road family of high quality is a strategic choice for the diversification of Colombian diplomacy to a shift from “looking north” to “seeing the world”.
“The prospects for future cooperation.”
The two major signals that Colombia is moving closer to China-replacing its ambassador to China and joining the Belt and Road Initiative have injected new impetus into the development of China-Colombia relations. In the future, cooperation between the two countries in various fields is expected to be further deepened.
In terms of infrastructure construction, the Bogotá Metro Line 1 project is just the beginning. China and Colombia can cooperate in more fields such as transportation and energy to help Colombia improve people's livelihood and well-being.
In the economic and trade field, the two sides can further expand the scale of trade and explore cooperation opportunities in emerging fields such as digital economy, green development, and artificial intelligence. In terms of people-to-people exchanges, Colombia's coffee, fresh cut flowers and other specialty products have become popular in the China market.
In the future, the two sides can strengthen multi-faceted cooperation in culture, tourism, education, and enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.For example, Colombian musicians have begun to participate in Chinese cultural activities, adding new colours to the cultural exchanges between the two countries.
For China, it is also necessary to continue to adhere to the principle of negotiating and building and sharing, and to write a new chapter with Colombia on equality and mutual benefit, innovation and win-win.
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In a moment of profound change in the global development pattern, Colombia’s choice is not only about its own development, but also offers a new diplomatic approach to other developing countries.