In 2004, China’s investments in Argentina added up to a mere $12.9m, according to Julián Pe?a, a lawyer who sits on the board of the Argentine-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

By 2009 that had grown tenfold to $136.7m. This year has seen a series of energy deals, including last week’s decision by Sinochem to buy Occidental Petroleum Corp’s operations in Argentina for $2.45bn. And earlier this year, China promised to invest a further $10bn in Argentina’s rail network.

The bulk of China’s interest has been in energy, but the country is also hungry for other resources in which Argentina is rich, including minerals and fertilisers. It is investing some $600m in urea production in Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina, and Shandong Gold has also reached a deal to explore for gold in the northern province of La Rioja.