Chinese envoy to Colombia promotes bilateral ties as Bogotá clashes with Washington

China’s envoy to Colombia seemed to take advantage of the weekend’s public dispute between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and US President Donald Trump over immigration and deportation policies to promote Beijing’s good ties with Bogota.

Zhu Jingyang, who assumed the ambassadorial post in Bogota in November, told the local newspaper El Tiempo that relations between China and Colombia were “at the best moment” since establishing diplomatic ties 45 years ago.

Ambassador Zhu added that Colombia and China “are global cultural powers” and that the differences between the two countries “far from creating obstacles, bring us closer and enrich us”.

He posted excerpts from the interview on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, over the weekend as the diplomatic crisis between Colombia and the US unfolded.

The dispute began after Petro refused to accept deportation flights from the US returning undocumented Colombian migrants, accusing Washington of treating them “like criminals”. The refusal came after reports of mistreatment by US officials of deportees returned to Brazil and Mexico.

The clash took officials in both Washington and Bogota by surprise. Colombia had accepted hundreds of deportation flights during the Joe Biden administration, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data.