Argentine President vows to work with China in fight for Falklands 'sovereignty'

Argentine President Alberto Fernández has told a Chinese-state news outlet that Bueno Aires will continue to push claims on the Falklands Islands.

President Fernández has made clear the Argentine government is unwilling to drop the country's contentious claims over the Falkland Islands. In an interview with, a Chinese television station on Friday Fernández stated that his country will maintain its sovereignty claims over the islands referring to them by the Argentinian name for them - Malvinas Islas.

Fernández told China Central Television (CCTV)."We want peace, we have always been against this rupture of territorial sovereignty.

"That is why we continue to demand that the United Kingdom cease its occupation of the Malvinas Islands and we are extremely concerned that they could become a place where the South Atlantic is militarised."

For this reason, "we are on China's side in its claim that there is only one China", Fernández added.

The South American leader also spoke of "enormous potential to increase trade with China", particularly in agribusiness and mineral production.

The Falkland war began on April 2, 1982 

He said: "We have many Chinese companies in our country working in agribusiness, cereals, lithium, [and] gas, among other sectors."

Fernández also stressed that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been "essential in making the rapprochement of our peoples a reality".

He also thanked China for siding with Argentina in times of difficulty and insisted on the "enormous potential" for ties to "deepen".

It comes as Argentina's Defence Minister has called on the British Government to engage in "dialogue" over the status of the Falkland Islands.

Argentina's Minister of Defence, Jorge Taiana called on the United Kingdom to sit down "once and for all" for talks of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands four decades on from the conflict.

During a farewell ceremony for Argentine UN Peacekeepers heading to Cyprus, Mr Taiana made a point of raising Buenos Aires long-standing claim to the British overseas territory.

Mr Taiana said: "We believe in international law, we believe in the peaceful settlement of disputes and, for this reason, we also call for dialogue so that the British sit down, once and for all, to talk about the sovereignty dispute in the Malvinas Islands"

The minister added his country "is committed to the peaceful solution" of conflicts, "to dialogue and respect for international law".

He asked the British government to "sit down and talk once and for all about the Malvinas Islands" before warning that "the powerful should not use force to impose their interests and modify the world order."

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