All statements in this article have reliable sources of information, and are described at the end of the article.
The dream pursuit.
Editor of Dreams.
Preliminary
On the one hand, the $20 billion "life-saving money" delivered by the United States, but on the condition that the cooperation with China should be cut off by their own hands; On the one hand, 53% of the country's people are struggling at the poverty line, the peso has been reduced to paper value, and the mid-term election is still around the corner.
The days of Argentina's President Millei in the recent period, just like standing on a burning iron board! ahead is the bread painted by the United States, behind it is the real benefit given by China, and every step is afraid to fall to the crumbling.
The United States not only wants Argentina to stop cooperation with China's soybean business and minerals, but also to demolish the civil space observatory built in 2014, which is absurd!
And Milei's attitude has reversed from "anti-China" during the election campaign to "pleasing" after taking office faster than turning over a book...
U.S. keeps Argentina away from China
Milei came to power with the slogan of "radical reform", but within a year, Argentina's economy was turned upside down.
His “shock therapy” has pushed inflation from 211 percent to 109 percent, but the lives of ordinary people are getting harder and harder.
The real purchasing power of the minimum wage is directly reduced by 28%. The price of bread in supermarkets can rise three times a month. The peso in your pocket cannot be exchanged for a few dollars. Even when you buy groceries, you have to carry a wad of cash.
By the end of 2024, more than half of the country's people will have become poor, and those workers in Neuquen Province who rely on Chinese-funded hydropower stations for food are worried every day that the project will be stopped and there will be no food to eat.
Even worse is the political trouble, as in the Buenos Aires province elections in September, his "Free Progress Party" received only 33.9% of the votes, while the opposition "League of the Motherland" jumped directly to 47%.
Knowing that this province accounts for 40 percent of Argentina’s voters, the result is the same as giving Miles a bowl of cold water.
At the same time, his sister was also involved in the bribery scandal, with the support rate dropping to 39 percent, looking forward to the midterm elections on October 26th, and Miley rushed like a ants on a hot pot.
On October 14, just as Millay was at his peak, the United States suddenly extended a "helping hand"-a US$20 billion currency swap agreement. However, there was no free lunch in the world. Once the United States 'conditions were set out, even Argentina's own people exploded.
Trump not only said he could not engage in military cooperation with China, but also asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent to demand that Argentina immediately terminate the $18 billion currency exchange deal with China, and even to clean up China's ports in Argentina and the Nuremberg Deep Space Station.
The most bizarre thing is that the U.S. Department of Defense has a bite that the observation station built in 2014 is a "military base", can monitor U.S. satellites, collect intelligence, can overwhelm all the evidence, not even half a hammer.
You must know that this observatory is a civilian facility signed by China and Argentina for a 50-year agreement. When Chang 'e-4 landed on the far side of the moon, it transmitted data.
U.S. and European diplomats have both been to the field to see, but now they are covered with the hat of "military threat", saying that the United States is afraid of China's progress in the space field, afraid of China's position in South America through equal cooperation.
More interestingly, the United States has forced Argentina to move away from China, but its own country has become a pot.
The “Hegemony Code” of the United States
The United States and Argentina are both soybean exporters. Previously, China bought 2.66 million tons of soybeans in one go because Argentina canceled soybean export taxes, which made American soybean merchants jump with anger.
Now the U.S. has another $20 billion in aid to Argentina, and U.S. farmers have exploded the pot directly, protesting that the government “takes the taxpayer’s money and helps competitors steal their business.”
In order to calm the anger, the White House could only promise to subsidize farmers with tariff revenues, but this money had to be removed from the reserve of aid to the Arabs, and eventually the aid quota was directly reduced to the 20 billion that had been landed, which is more like an empty check.
What is even more embarrassing is that the U.S. House of Representatives also questioned the "low value for money" of the aid and felt that the Millay regime was unstable and the money was likely to be wasted. The two parties were in a heated row over the additional terms of the aid, and the approval of the agreement was delayed.
On the one hand, its own domestic contradictions are heavy, while also thinking about interfering in the internal affairs of others, the wave of US operations is truly incomprehensible.
China's "confidence for cooperation"
Contrary to China, in the face of pressure from the United States, China has been Argentina's second-largest trading partner for years, and the soya business has supported half of Argentina's agricultural exports.
In September 2024, Argentina canceled export taxes, and China bought 2.66 million tons in 4 days; In early October, an additional 650,000 tons were purchased, and China never mentioned additional conditions.
It also renewed a US $500 million currency swap agreement in April 2025 to help Argentina ease the pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
In addition to agricultural products, China is also engaged in lithium mine exploration and hydropower stations in Argentina. These projects are invested in real money, which has solved the employment problems of many local people. Even the Neuquen Deep Space Exploration Station that the United States is staring at, China has already prepared.
In 2023, it cooperated with Brazil to build a radio telescope, and launched the expansion of the South American measurement and control network in 2025. Even if Argentina really closes this station, China can transfer technical resources to Brazil without affecting the overall aerospace strategy at all.
Just when everyone was worried about whether Argentina would turn against China for 20 billion yuan, Argentine Cabinet Chief Minister Francos stood up and said a word, which directly reassured China.
Minister Afghanistan's words reassured China
"I haven't seen any agreement stating that China will be excluded. Argentina is an independent country and no one's affiliated state." This sentence not only slapped the United States in the face, but also told Argentina's true situation.
No matter how much Millais wants to rely on the money of the United States to save the emergency, he does not dare to really cut off cooperation with China. You must know that China has now adjusted its soybean procurement structure, with Brazil accounting for 58%, Argentina 22%, and the United States accounting for 17%.
If Argentina really resumed export duties or broke cooperation, China could shift orders to Brazil and Uruguay, but Argentina's soybean stocks lasted for more than three months, and no one could bear the losses of the delay.
Milei's "Default Ledger"
The agreement clearly states that if Argentina unilaterally ruptures the observatory agreement, it will have to pay three times the amount of default, approximately $1.5 billion.
Coupled with China’s possible suspension of hydropower financing, Argentina can’t afford such a tightening of its tensed foreign exchange reserves.
The United States wants to buy Argentina's diplomatic autonomy with 20 billion yuan and turn it into a pawn to contain China. However, no matter how fine the abacus is, it doesn't take into account its own domestic conflicts of interest, Argentina doesn't dare to really give up China's "long-term meal ticket", and it doesn't take into account the vigilance of Latin American countries against American hegemony.
Recently, the Alliance of Latin American Nations has issued a statement indirectly supporting China-Arab cooperation and criticizing "external pressure interfering with sovereignty." Countries such as Brazil and Chile have also signed new energy cooperation agreements with China, and the influence of the United States in Latin America has long been worse than before.
Although Millay is still walking a tightrope between China and the United States, at one time he sends a signal to "consider closing the observatory" and at another time he asks the agricultural department to maintain exports to China.
But anyone with a discerning eye can see that Millais knows better than anyone who can really help Argentina solve people's livelihood problems and who can provide long-term and stable cooperation.
conclusion
The $20 billion given by the United States is a "one-time blood transfusion", and it will not be used, but China gives a "long-term blood-making" opportunity, an equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.
In the future, regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections in Argentina, the United States wants to use pressure to get a country away from China, I am afraid that it will be just an empty pitch.
The principle of "no political conditions attached, mutual benefit and win-win" that China has always adhered to will eventually win the trust of more countries, which cannot be easily shaken by the hegemony of the United States.
References:
2025-10-13, "China rejected the US finance minister: rather than provoking, do something practical"