Mexico used to regard China with hostility, as one of its prime economic competitors, but nowadays the two are moving towards a mutually profitable economic relationship. Especially since China has become ever more clearly the world’s major economic power, Mexico has stopped regarding it as a threat and started assessing it as a potential vital market for Mexican exports. The numbers are there to back up this hope, as China is now the 7th-largest buyer of Mexican goods, and exports to China have increased from $204 million to $1.9 billion in just three years.

“This is a great signal that commercial relations between Mexico and China are on a good path,” said Juan Jose Ling, director of GDEM, a business development group that promotes Chinese-Mexican ties.

Besides exports, major Mexican companies like Televisa and Grupo Bimbo SAB are also expanding into China, buying up factories near Beijing. And now you don’t even have to worry about suffering from crappy taco withdrawal if you visit China, as El Fogoncito has a newly opened restaurant in Beijing. Still don’t believe the Mexican invasion of China is for real? Yo Soy Betty La Fea now has a Chinese adaptation of it, “The Ugly Girl With No Rival” aka Chou Nu Wu Di which debuted in September to as many as 242 million viewers.

The love goes both ways, as China’s enormous growth rate demands that it seek constant supplies of natural resources from providers like Mexico. On top of that, Chinese exports to Mexico are 16 times what they were last year. The only limiting factor seems to be the issue of marketing established products in an entirely new cultural setting.

“It’s very different to sell tequila in Houston or in Los Angeles than selling it in Hubei,” [Professor Enrique Dussel Peters] said, referring to the central Chinese province. “If you don’t explain to the Chinese consumer what tequila is, the consumer in China will say, ‘Well, this is a very expensive product and I’m not going to buy it.’”

Explain booze? China is a different country, not some land of madmen! But we see his point- luxury items are often established through marketing, and not some inherent quality. But Juan Jose Ling is optimistic about the success of Mexican products in China;

“China’s new middle class is excited to try, taste and consume goods and services from other parts of the world.”

Meanwhile, those of us still living in los estados will be excitedly exchanging toothpick sculptures and balls of lint for Christmas.

Mexican companies join race for Chinese market [NY Daily News]