China’s Embassy in Argentina Condemns U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Milei Rescue Remarks as Confrontational, Interventionist

China’s embassy in Buenos Aires issued a sharp statement accusing U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of "confrontational, interventionist" rhetoric after he said Washington’s financial rescue for President Javier Milei was meant to "get China out of Argentina" and leverage the country’s natural resources.

The Citizen

11/10/2025 7:26pm

In a public statement, the spokesperson for China’s Embassy in Argentina denounced as \»provocative\» and driven by a \»confrontational, interventionist mindset\» recent remarks by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said Washington’s rescue for President Javier Milei was intended to \»get China out of Argentina\».

\»The provocative comments recently made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding relations between the People’s Republic of China and Argentina, and cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, once again lay bare the entrenched Cold War mentality that still characterizes some U.S. officials,\» the embassy said in a statement released Saturday.

According to China’s diplomatic mission, these U.S. officials \»seem to act solely with a spirit of confrontation and intervention in the affairs of other sovereign nations.\»

\»Scott Bessent and the United States must understand that Latin America and the Caribbean is no one’s backyard. They should also know they cannot disrupt cooperation between China and the region, because it is a deep relationship that has never been used to harm third countries,\» the Embassy of China in Argentina added.

In that vein, the spokesperson reiterated that countries across the region \»have the right, with independence and freedom, to choose their development paths and their partners in cooperation.\»

\»Given this situation, it would be better for the United States to stop sowing discord and creating problems where there are none, and instead make real, concrete contributions to the development of the region it claims to defend,\» the statement concluded.

Declaración del Portavoz de la Embajada de China🇨🇳 en Argentina sobre las palabras del Secretario del Tesoro de EE.UU., Scott Bessent pic.twitter.com/K2gVxRRvkx

— Embajada de China en Argentina (@ChinaEmbArg) October 11, 2025

What did Scott Bessent say?

As El Ciudadano reported, in an interview with Fox News, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the financial \»rescue\» extended to Javier Milei’s government is intended to \»get China out of Argentina\» and to capitalize on the country’s natural resources.

According to Bessent, Milei will visit the Oval Office next Tuesday \»and is committed to getting China out of Argentina,\» describing him as a \»great U.S. ally.\»

In that context, some outlets suggested Bessent was seeking to answer mounting criticism of Trump over the aid to Argentina. In one example, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat) said: \»First, Trump made us pay higher prices for coffee and beef to support a convicted coup-plotter in Brazil. Now, he wants American taxpayers to bail out his friend Milei in Argentina. Trump should stop driving up prices for Americans and stop giving away our money to his corrupt friends,\» referring to Javier Milei.