Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai yesterday, as he looks to boost ties with the South American nation’s biggest trade partner and win political support for attempts to mediate the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Lula arrived late on Wednesday and is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing today before concluding his visit tomorrow.
The sides are expected to sign at least 20 bilateral agreements during Lula’s trip, underscoring the improvement in relations following a rocky patch under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian government said.
Photo: REUTERS
In Shanghai, Lula would also attend the official swearing in of close adviser and former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff as head of the Chinese-backed New Development Bank.
The institution posits itself as an alternative to the IMF and World Bank that are controlled mainly by the US and its Western allies.
It is focused on the so-called BRICS group of developing nations made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Established more than seven years ago, the bank has approved 99 loan projects totaling more than US$34 billion, mainly for infrastructure projects, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Much of that credit has gone to Brazil for projects such as a metro system in the business capital of Sao Paulo.
During his meeting with Xi, Lula is expected to discuss trade, investment, reindustrialization, energy transition, climate change and peace agreements, the Brazilian government said.
China is Brazil’s biggest export market, each year buying tens of billions of US dollars of soybeans, beef, iron ore, poultry, pulp, sugar cane, cotton and crude oil.
Brazil is the biggest recipient of Chinese investment in Latin America, Chinese state media reported, but Lula has spoken against outright Chinese ownership of Brazilian companies.
One of the agreements Lula would sign in China is for the construction of the sixth satellite built under a binational program that would monitor biomes such as the Amazon rainforest.
China recently ended a ban on Brazilian beef imposed in February following the discovery of an atypical case of mad cow disease.
Politically, Lula’s visit is a sign of Brazil’s reemergence in global relations since he replaced Bolsonaro in January.
Bolsonaro and members of his family sometimes caused friction with Chinese authorities on issues from the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to telecommunications company Huawei.
Bolsonaro was an admirer of right-wing nationalists and showed little interest in international affairs or travel abroad.
Lula, who was scheduled to visit a Huawei research center in Shanghai yesterday, made trips to Argentina and Uruguay in January and the US in February, signaling the importance he gives to international affairs, experts said.
He toured the world during his first presidency from 2003 to 2010, and particularly in his second term, when he visited dozens of countries. He has visited China twice before.
A key piece of Lula’s foreign outreach is his proposal that Brazil and other developing countries, including China, mediate peace over Ukraine.
However, his suggestion that Ukraine cede Crimea as a means to forge peace has angered Kyiv and its closest backers.
China has also sought to play a role in ending the conflict, but in a manner highly supportive of Moscow. It has refused to condemn the invasion, criticized economic sanctions on Russia, and accused the US and NATO of provoking the conflict.
Russia and China declared a “no limits” relationship in a joint statement last year, and Xi reaffirmed the closeness of ties by meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month.
A Chinese peace proposal presented in February contains aspects in common with Lula’s, such as ceasing hostilities and starting negotiations, but says nothing about the return of Ukrainian territory seized by Russia and its separatist allies.
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