China pledges to help Argentina go nuclear

China is once again flexing its muscles in the region and recently signed a deal with Argentina to build a nuclear plant in the South American country – using the allure of its advanced clean energy technology as a means to further expand its influence throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The $8 billion plant – named Atucha III -- will be constructed using China’s proprietary Hualong One design and will be Argentina’s fourth nuclear power station to date, boasting an installed capacity of 1.2 gigawatts and an initial life of 60 years, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.

Beijing and Buenos Aires agreed to cooperate on the project in 2015 but plans to move forward were stalled until a contract between state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation and Nucleoelectrica Argentina was signed on January 31, 2021.

Shortly after, Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez and Chinese premier Xi Jinping met in Beijing during the Winter Olympics and signed a memorandum of understanding furthering cooperation between Buenos Aires and the Chinese Communist Party.

Argentina thus became the first major Latin American country to join China’s international Belt and Road Initiative – and both countries agreed to work together to advance existing hydropower and railway projects – as well as deepen cooperation on trade, industry, aerospace, agriculture, infrastructure and investment.

Diplomatically, this move further demonstrated Argentina’s desire to increase cooperation with China – and move away from the United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF.)

Just last month, Fernandez told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is eager to help Argentina abandon its economic “dependence” on the United States and the IMF and that Russia could help reshape the regional power dynamics. 

"I'm certain Argentina has to stop being so dependent on the Fund and the United States and has to open up to other places, and that is where it seems to me that Russia has a very important place," Fernandez told Putin.

Fernandez also played into Putin’s Latin America ambitions and promised the leader that the “environment is very favorable” for Argentina to be the Kremlin’s “gateway to Latin America.”

The Peronist leader’s words came just days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Duma that Russia will strengthen its strategic cooperation with Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua “in all spheres,” and the Kremlin threatened to place troops in the Western Hemisphere should tensions over Ukraine not diminish.

"We have very close relations and strategic cooperation in all spheres: in terms of economy, culture, education, and military-technical cooperation," the head of Russian diplomacy said.

Cui Shoujun, a professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said joining the belt and road during the Games was a "high profile" move by Argentina that signaled a desire to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties with China.

"This was a strategic choice by them," he said.

Ultimately, however, Argentina's move to join the belt and road could help China further expand its ambitions in Latin America by carving out a greater role within the energy sector – a dangerous reality which must be considered by American policymakers as hostile nations continue to gain footholds throughout the region.

"There is clearly a pressure and threat by the US since 2017 - in some cases explicit, in some others implicit - not to deepen ties with China," said Enrique Dussel Peters, head of the Centre for Chinese-Mexican Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

"For third countries and regions ... they will have to be increasingly pragmatic regarding specific OFDI [outward foreign direct investment] and infrastructure projects: from 5G to highways, ports, airports and energy-related projects."