Chinese President Xi Jinping will host Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Beijing next week.
It will be a meeting of two politicians seeking a renaissance: One wants the world to know that his country is on the road to its former glory after three years of Covid-19 shutdown. The other wants to signal that his country is recovering from four years of chaos under a far-right populist leader.
After a period of isolation for Brazil under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, Lula has wasted no time in rekindling ties with allies. Within three months of taking office, President Lula da Silva visited Argentina and the United States.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva (right) meets with Xi Jinping, then Vice President of China, in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, February 2009. Photo: CCTV
And his six-day visit to China, Brazil’s largest trading partner, from March 26 to 31 is key to his ambitions. Lula will be accompanied by many of Brazil’s most powerful figures in politics , industry and agribusiness. Notably, more than a quarter of the nearly 250 businessmen accompanying him come from the South American country’s powerful meat export industry.
“The Brazilian president’s visit is a very clear signal that he wants to have a high-level bilateral dialogue and deepen this relationship,” Evandro Menezes de Carvalho, a China expert at the Rio de Janeiro-based Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) think tank, told AFP.
China's expectations are also high, analysts say, as officials in Beijing view Brazil – a leader in the global south – as a pillar of their strategic and economic plans.
The visit will also advance Xi Jinping's campaign to position himself as a global statesman and peacemaker determined to make China's mark in world affairs from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Latin America.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva (left) meets with Xi Jinping, then Vice President of China, in Beijing, May 2009. Photo: Xinhua
“They are very helpful to each other,” Matias Spektor, professor of international relations at the FGV, said of Lula da Silva and Xi Jinping.
“For Lula, the visit sends a message to his domestic audience, to other South American countries and to the United States that Brazil is back. And from Xi’s perspective, it also shows that even in a region like Latin America, which has traditionally been influenced by the United States, China still has leverage.”
Brazil received a “boost” on March 23 when China decided to lift a month-long suspension of Brazilian beef imports, after an “isolated” case of mad cow disease was confirmed in February.
Brazil wants to boost trade, focusing on product diversification… but also wants to attract investment from China, Mr. Menezes said, pointing to the potential for developing technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, or resuming high-speed train projects between Brazilian cities.
Brazil was also the main destination for Chinese investment in Latin America from 2007 to 2020, worth $70 billion, according to the Brazil-China Business Council.
Money is mainly invested in oil and electricity production, but also poured into the automotive industry, heavy machinery, mining, agriculture and information technology.
Brazil is a huge market for Chinese companies, such as tech giant Huawei. And an agreement between the two countries to use the yuan in billions of dollars of bilateral trade could help internationalize the Chinese currency.
“The size of Brazil and the scale of the relationship also means that China’s global strategic economic goals will benefit more from Beijing’s good relations with Brazil than any other country,” said Evan Ellis, a China and Russia expert at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in Washington.
Chinese Ambassador to Brazil Zhu Qingqiao (right) presents his credentials to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, January 2023. Photo: Getty Images
“In addition to economic and business relations, let's not forget that there is also a strategic partnership” based on Brazil's role as a leader in the southern hemisphere, Ellis said.
President Lula da Silva considered multilateral diplomacy a top priority during his previous two presidential terms (2002-2010) and visited Beijing three times.
And it was during his tenure that the BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa, was formed .
Minh Duc (According to The Guardian, Digital Journal)
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