Explained: Why Brazil’s Lula da Silva is cosying up to China’s Xi Jinping

Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to China is being closely watched. Officials said the aim of Lula’s trip is to “relaunch its relations with the country that has been its main trading partner since 2009” and that nearly two dozen bilateral agreements will be signed. Lula will also hold talks with China’s Xi Jinping – who met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin last month – and is expected to make a renewed push for peace in Ukraine. Let’s take a closer look: Bilateral trade Lula is expected to make a renewed push for bilateral trade and business. Brazil’s government said Lula and Xi – who will meet on Friday – are likely to talk trade, investment, reindustrialisation, energy transition, climate change and peace agreements. SCMP quoted officials as saying the trip’s main aim was to expand their trade relationship with China. CNN quoted China’s foreign ministry as saying that the visit would “usher in a new era and a new future for China-Brazil relations.”

The trade between the two nations is estimated to be around $150 billion.

Beijing last year imported $89.7 billion in Brazilian products and exported around $60.7 billion to Brasilia, as per CNN. China is Brazil’s biggest export market, each year buying tens of billions of dollars’ worth of soybeans, beef, iron ore, poultry, pulp, sugar cane, cotton and crude oil. Brazil, meanwhile, is the biggest recipient of Chinese investment in Latin America, according to Chinese state media. This comes just weeks after China and Brazil agreed to ‘ditch the dollar’ and settle trade in yuan. **Also read: Dumping the Dollar: Will a new BRICS currency replace the US currency for trade?** “China-Brazil relations are likely to remain a key component of President Xi’s foreign policy, which has emphasised securing trade routes and building strategic alliances with emerging economies through signature initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, of which Brazil is not yet a formal member, and the Global Development Initiative,” S&P’s Rosales and Duran Carrete wrote, according tor Al Jazeera. [caption id=“attachment_12445892” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] BRICS’ new move to create a new currency is in line with the de-dollarisation movement. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] They also said the talks will likely “cover state cooperation, including strengthening technological knowledge sharing and the construction of a satellite to support Amazon conservation.” “Brazil can’t afford to turn its back on the benefits China brings. The US doesn’t have the capacity to absorb Brazil’s exports as China does, nor occupy the same space in investment and infrastructure,” said Pedro Brites, an expert on China at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university and think tank in Sao Paulo. And China is encouraging its companies to find new markets and foreign partners to reduce reliance on the US. “Lula knows you have to treat your clients well. Even more so when it is your best client,” said Charles Tang, who chairs the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce. In what Tang suggested was the result of a renewed partnership, China ended restrictions on Brazilian beef just before Lula was initially scheduled to make his trip. Sales of Brazilian beef to China were banned in February following the discovery of an atypical case of mad cow disease. Business Lula’s visit will also focus on giving a fillip to business. As per SCMP, Lula will be accompanied by 240 business representatives as well as officials from all departments of government, senators and members of Congress. Lula will visit with business leaders and make a trip to the headquarters of the New Development Bank in Shanghai. As per CNN, this bank, which will be headed up by former president Dilma Rousseff, was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). Chinese companies are involved in public works projects in Brazil, including a metro line in Sao Paulo, the country’s business capital. “I want the Chinese to understand that their investment here will be wonderfully welcome, but not to buy our companies. To build new things, which we need,” Lula told journalists in Brasilia last week.

Lula’s approach towards China is a far cry from the previous president.

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and members of his family at times caused friction with Chinese authorities during his 2019-2022 term. In 2020, when Bolsonaro’s lawmaker son Eduardo blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese ambassador to Brazil called his words “an evil insult against China and the Chinese people.” [caption id=“attachment_12377462” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Brazil’’s former president Jair Bolsonaro had a fractious relationship with China. Reuters[/caption] Later that year, Eduardo referred to the giant Chinese technology company Huawei as “Chinese espionage,” prompting a sharp rebuke from China’s embassy. Last year, China did not have an ambassador in Brasilia for eight months. The rift stoked criticism in Brazil, even among sectors that supported Bolsonaro, like agribusiness. Ukraine peace Lula is expected to make a fresh push for peace in Ukraine. As per SCMP, Lula claimed to the website Brasil 247 on Tuesday his country could “make an extraordinary contribution to end the war”. Lula has also called China an ‘extremely important country’ that could “have a more serious discussion with the US” on the war. Al Jazeera quoted experts as saying Lula was attempting to “carve out … a distinctive role” for Brazil in global geopolitics – all the while maintaining a delicate balance between Washington and Beijing. Lula in February told CNN that he would “talk a lot with President Xi Jinping about the role that China has to play on the peace issues (in Ukraine). “This is my work. This is the work that I have to do. I started with the German Chancellor (Olaf Scholz). I talked with (French President Emmanuel) Macron on the phone. I’ll talk with President Biden now. I’ll talk to Xi Jinping, with the Indians, with the – with all the countries. We have to have a group of people and countries that talk about peace.” He has slammed Putin for the invasion, but does not agree with Russia being sanctioned. He has also taken aim at the West for ‘not doing enough’ for peace. While Lula wants Brazil, China and other nations to help mediate the war as part of his nation’s return to the world stage, his proposals to end the conflict have irked Ukraine and the West. He recently suggested during a meeting with journalists in Brasilia last week that Ukraine cede Crimea as a means to forge peace.

Still, some think Lula will have an impact.

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“It’s not just any visit — it’s Lula,” Karin Vazquez, a non-resident fellow with think-tank Center for China and Globalization, told Bloomberg. “He’s very respected as a global leader, and from the Chinese perspective indicates the relevance of Brazil and other emerging countries in the making of Xi’s ‘New Era.’” AFP quoted Brazil’s foreign minister Mauro Vieira as saying, “By the time Lula returns home, a group of mediator countries will have been created.” [caption id=“attachment_12444572” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Ukrainian electrical workers inspect a new power line replacing one destroyed months earlier in Kyiv. Emile Ducke/The New York Times[/caption] Earlier this month, a Lula adviser, former foreign affairs minister Celso Amorim, took a discreet trip to Moscow, where he met with President Vladimir Putin. Amorim “went to listen and to say the time has come to talk,” Vieira told reporters in the capital, Brasilia, on 5 April. There is at least some common ground. Vieira noted that the Chinese peace proposal presented in February contains aspects in common with Lula’s, such as ceasing hostilities and starting negotiations. “These are completely plausible and may be stimulus for talks,” he said. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.