A Pékin, Morales offre le gaz bolivien à ses amis idéologiques

Le président bolivien élu (il n’entre en fonction que le 22 janvier) Evo Morales est en tournée dans le monde : Cuba, Madrid, Paris, jusqu’à Pékin ce week-end (avant de poursuivre vers l’Inde et l’Iran, puis l’Afrique du Sud, enfin l’Argentine et le Brésil). Un voyage à grande signification idéologique : toutes les étapes de Morales se font effectivement dans des capitales qui observent les expériences sud-américaines démocratiques, populistes et souverainistes (et anti-américaines) avec une certaine sympathie.

Après des initiatives à Madrid et à Paris, Morales a fait de très importantes propositions aux Chinois concernant l’exploitation des ressources gazières boliviennes. Là aussi, ces propositions de caractère économique ont une orientation idéologique affirmée.

« Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales declared China his ideological ally on Monday after inviting Beijing to help his country develop its vast gas reserves. Morales met Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People, China's legislative seat, during his world tour that includes stops in Europe and South Africa. “I made a priority of answering the invitation of China because I consider it to be a political, ideological and programmatic ally of the Bolivian people,” Morales told Hu. On Sunday, Morales met with State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, a senior Cabinet official, and invited China to help with his country's gas industry after it carries out plans to nationalize its reserves. “For the government of President Morales, hydrocarbons is a fundamental topic, in particular the industrialization of natural gas,” said Carlos Villegas, an economic adviser to Morales said Sunday. “He invited the Chinese government, through its state companies, to participate.” Beijing is trying to develop ties with nations throughout Latin America as new sources of fuel, raw materials and new markets for its export dynamo. Villegas said Bolivia wants private companies to remain as partners to develop them and will renegotiate existing contracts following Morales' Jan. 22 inauguration. “We have made the proposal in Spain and France, and now in China,” Villegas said. Morales, a former Indian activist, said he hoped to build ties between Bolivia's socialist movement and China's ruling Communist Party. China imports an estimated 40 percent of its oil, and analysts expect consumption to surge in coming years despite official efforts to increase use of alternative energy sources. »

Mis en ligne le 10 janvier 2006 à 08H19