In the 16th-17th century, people, goods, and news traveling between China and Spain usually did so through the Philippines (where there was a large Chinese settlement) and (via the Manila galleon trade) to Mexico.[5] This historic connection between the two countries is attested by two important early Spanish-language books (soon translated to Europe's other major languages) that were authored by Spanish ecclesiastics stationed in Mexico: Juan González de Mendoza's The history of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof (1585) and Juan de Palafox y Mendoza's The History of the Conquest of China by the Tartars (posthumously published in 1670).[1] In 1973, Mexican President Luis Echeverría paid an official visit to China and met with Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong.In 2009, in the wake of fears of a worldwide swine flu pandemic, thought to have started in Mexico, relations between the two countries cooled substantially over China's decision to quarantine some seventy Mexican citizens, despite none of them showing symptoms of the virus.The Mexican government responded with outrage and, although China imposed the same measures on four nationals from the United States and more than twenty from Canada; dubbed the act discriminatory.On 12 December 2016, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi met with Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu to discuss improving transportation and trade between their countries.[9] In July 2019, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard paid a visit to China to give renewed impetus to trade and investment between both countries.Ships laden with goods from Mexico would make call primarily in Macau, where trade with nearby ports, including Hong Kong, may have occurred.[21] In 1962, Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateos stopped on an overnight visit to Hong Kong (a British colony at the time) and was met by representatives of the local government.Mexico's main export products include: telephones and mobile phones, electronic integrated circuits, beef and fish, minerals, motor vehicles, scrap metals, clothing, and vegetables.
Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang in
Cancún
attending the
North–South Summit
in 1981. It was the first visit by a Chinese head of government in Latin America.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mexico City during President Xi state visit to the country in June 2013.