After meeting Joe Biden in Washington, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accelerated preparations for the China landing in March. The trip to Brazil’s most important trading partner highlights the change of course in foreign policy, which has been marked by friction and provocations between the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the Chinese in recent years.
The bet of Brazilian diplomacy now is to resume the role in international forums and leverage the Brics, a bloc that also includes Russia, India and South Africa. Lula’s trip to Beijing is treated as a “priority” in Itamaraty, continuing a highly political script across the United States and even Argentina and Uruguay.
Due to the distance, Lula is expected to stay in China for four days. The trip is scheduled for the last week of March. The main activities with Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to focus on the 28th.
The diplomats of the two countries are discussing the schedule of the trip at the time of the escalation of tensions between China and the United States, ranging from trade disputes to geopolitics, the Taiwan question and the recent War of Tales over the “spy balloons”. Brazil does not want to interfere in the case. The impression from diplomats, both Brazilian and American, is that this is only a bilateral matter. In any case, Biden’s diplomacy accompanies Lula’s visit given the expanding Chinese presence in Latin America.
Relationship
Lula visited China in 2004, 2008 and 2009. Since diplomatic relations were established in 1974, six other Brazilian presidents have entered the country: João Figueiredo, José Sarney, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Dilma Rousseff, Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro. The key moment in the preparations for the March trip will be a meeting between Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi later this month in New Delhi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting chaired by India. These conversations usually settle the final details of the visit.
According to an ambassador involved in the preparations for the trip to Beijing, what was more political about the Brazilian President’s visit to the United States was the defense of “democracy.” In China, the expectation goes beyond the political discussion. The issue will be present in defending the reform in multilateral fora such as the UN Security Council, but also in talks for a broader discussion on the war in Ukraine. Lula said he wants to bring the Chinese to the table. He sees China as a key player in efforts to sensitize Russia and reach a peace deal.
Despite his visit to Beijing, Bolsonaro fomented crises with Chinese officials, led by his sons and ministers. The president’s diplomacy himself was shaken, with Bolsonaro’s previous visit to Taiwan while still campaigning in 2018 and accusations that the Chinese wanted to “buy Brazil”. The island is considered “rebel” territory that Beijing wants to annex. MP Eduardo Bolsonaro (PLSP) even blamed China for the pandemic.
The trip to China in the first few months of Lula’s tenure had been prepared by the PT team since the transition. On this occasion, the External Relations Group proposed to prepare the visit during the first hundred days of government. In the team’s previously confidential diagnosis, the movement of political distancing from China observed in the Bolsonaro era was “reasoned for ideological motives” and cooperation should be resumed on the basis of concrete common interests.
The report obtained by Esstadão highlights that the Bolsonaro government “through alleged hostility towards China created unnecessary restrictions with our main trading partner and country producer of essential hospital products, vaccines and their basic supplies”. Outlined goals include resuming collaboration in science, technology and innovation, such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and supporting joint initiatives to manufacture immunization drugs, medicines and pharmaceutical supplies in general.
Although he did not attend Lula’s inauguration, Xi Jinping sent signs of good relations: he wrote a letter to the PT and sent Vice President Wang Qishan to Brasilia. On this occasion he also met Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Senator Hamilton Mourão (RepublicanosRS).
The private sector expects that the trip to China will have a more commercial focus, favor the opening of markets in agribusiness and spark discussions that depend on interaction between governments. In January, for example, Beijing announced that three Brazilian slaughterhouses had been renovated for export.
The information comes from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
Copyright © Estao. All rights reserved.