Mexican President Echeverría Álvarez: Western Steps Taken in the Eastern Spirit

On April 21, 1973, then-Mexican President Luis Echeverría Álvarez, the first Mexican leader to visit China, set foot on the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing, China.

On April 19, 1973, the Mexican delegation, led by President Álvarez and his wife, arrived in Beijing.

Excited crowds lined up along the Chang’an Avenue in Beijing to greet the guests with songs and dances.

When the convoy arrived at Tiananmen Square, President Álvarez was received by Mr. Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People’s Republic of China. President Álvarez got out of the limousine and waved as he walked toward the crowd.

Some people in the crowd even shouted out in Spanish: “Welcome, President of Mexico!”

Premier Zhou said to him happily: “The reason I asked Mr. President to get out of the car and directly join the welcoming crowd was because I wanted you to see and feel the brotherly hospitality of the Chinese people towards the President and the Mexican people.

As the Chinese idiom says, It’s better to get off the horse and observe the flowers than to ride a horse just to see the view of it from afar. Echeverría Álvarez shook hands with Premier Zhou and said excitedly, I did get off the horse and I truly enjoyed it.

His excitement continued at the welcoming banquet: “We have come from the West, but our spirit originated from the East. This is where our ties of blood started centuries ago.”

President Echeverría had always been a good friend of the Chinese people. In 2022, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Mexico, the centenarian sent a congratulatory letter to express his best hopes for the future of China-Mexico relations.

“The establishment of diplomatic relations between the United Mexican States and the People’s Republic of China is a major breakthrough in the political and diplomatic history of the two countries. I sincerely hope that the relationship between the two countries will continue to be fruitful in the future, and the friendship between the two peoples will be as firm as a rock.”