Ecuadorian president lands in Beijing seeking to free up key exports and gain Chinese investment

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his first state visit to China, an eight-day trip during which he will seek to lift suspensions on 14 Ecuadorian shrimp processors and secure fresh investment in energy and mining.

Noboa will hold talks with President Xi Jinping and meet separately with Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, China’s top legislator, according to Beijing’s foreign ministry. The visit runs to August 23 before the Asian tour continues to Singapore and Vietnam until August 28.

It is Noboa’s second trip to China since June last year, when he and Xi witnessed the signing of a cooperation plan under the Belt and Road Initiative, which Ecuador joined in 2018. What changes now is protocol: a state visit carries the full ceremonial apparatus, and with it the expectation of deliverables.

Beijing has framed the trip around an anniversary rather than a transaction.

In a written statement issued on August 14, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson noted that this year marks a decade since China and Ecuador established their comprehensive strategic partnership, and said Beijing “hoped the visit would further consolidate political mutual trust, carry forward what the statement called a traditional friendship, and advance the partnership”.

Those courtesies are being extended to a government that has spent the past 18 months deepening security cooperation with Washington.