CHINA’S President Xi Jinping called today for a more “equal and multipolar world.”

He made the remarks during a meeting in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, who was paying the first visit by a South American leader to China since the United States launched its illegal and unprovoked raid on Venezuela on January 3, during which President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores were kidnapped.

More than 100 people were killed during the US attack.

Mr Xi voiced support for Latin America and Caribbean nations’ efforts to upholding their sovereignty, security and development interests in the current volatile international climate.

The Chinese president said China and Uruguay should “work together to advance an equal and orderly multipolar world and an inclusive, universally beneficial economic globalisation.”

He said China was “willing to ⁠work with Uruguay and other regional countries to deepen and solidify the building ​of a China-Latin America community with a shared future.”

Beijing is backing Uruguay to take on the rotating presidency of the Group of 77.

Mr Xi said: “The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, with a complex and volatile international situation ‍and escalating unilateral bullying,” adding ⁠that China had always attached great importance to its ties with Latin America.

China was the top destination for Uruguayan exports last year, taking agricultural products from wood pulp to soya beans and beef.

Uruguay, which had a trade surplus of $187.1 million (around £140m) with China in the first half of 2025, imports Chinese machinery, electronics and chemicals.

President Orsi said the strategic partnership between his country and China was going through its “best moment” and called for both nations to “commit to raising it to a new level.”

The two leaders signed a declaration on deepening the partnership in areas such as science and technology, the environment, intellectual property and the meat trade.