The Chinese president, Xi Jinpingand his Brazilian colleague, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvasaid on Wednesday that they had raised the status of their countries’ global strategic partnership during a state visit, as part of a regional tour that shows the growing diplomatic weight of Beijing.
Xi and Lula expressed that the China-Brazil relationship has become a “community with a shared future for a fairer world and a sustainable planet”, in a press conference at the presidential residence.
In addition, they agreed to find “synergies” between the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative and Brazilian development programs, after Lula refused to formally enroll Brazil in the Chinese global infrastructure initiative.
The leaders signed nearly 40 cooperation agreements to strengthen ties between the two economies, whose Bilateral trade exceeds 150 billion dollarsLula reported.
“This is another historic moment in the development of China-Brazil relations,” Xi said, adding that he was willing to make them “golden partners.”
Xi uses the term “Community with a Shared Future” to formalize what Beijing views as a positive and far-reaching bilateral relationship with a country that shares geopolitical and economic interests.
China already used the expression last year to describe its ties with countries such as Vietnam y Serbia.
The state visit to Brasilia comes after two summits that Xi attended in one week: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima and the Group of 20 main economies in Rio de Janeiro.
While Xi played a central role in both summits, US President Joe Biden arrived with two months left in the White House and with little room for lasting promises, as his successor Donald Trump promises a total overhaul of foreign policy.
China’s parallel meetings with Western powers amid trade and geopolitical tensions, from the United States and Britain to France and Germany, showed a conciliatory turn by Beijing in the face of four more years of tough clashes with Trump, said Li Xing, a professor of the Guangdong Institute of International Strategies.
“China’s strategy is clear, the stance it is showing is to leave behind the resentment of the past,” Li said. “It is undoubtedly an adjustment, and it is all because the G20 summit “This year is in a transition period after the US elections.”
Behind the scenes, several diplomats who had participated in previous G20 summits noted a changing stance on the part of the Chinese: less focused on their own narrow interests and more proactive in forging a broader consensus.
“China is much more participatory and constructive,” said a Brazilian diplomat who requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
One European noted that Chinese peers this year helped build consensus on several fronts, including issues such as women’s rights, where they had not traditionally been active. It seemed a conscious move to occupy a multilateral forum that Trump is likely to neglect, the diplomat added.
“The place that is left unoccupied will be occupied by another,” said the European diplomat. “China is apparently interested in occupying more than it has occupied so far.”
According to official data, China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner since 2008, and both nations maintain close relations promoted by the BRICS group—founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—which since 2009 has advocated for greater representation. of emerging and developing countries in international organizations.
He Chinese market was the destination of 30% of Brazilian exports in 2023when sales to the Asian country totaled 104 billion dollars, made up mostly of food and raw materials.
China, for its part, maintains investments in Brazil amounting to around 40 billion dollars, which in recent years have been directed primarily to the energy area, in which the Asian country intends to increase its participation.
(With information from Reuters and EFE)
