The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) ruled out supporting an international peace plan for Ukraine – proposed by Switzerland and widely supported by liberal democracies in the West – this week to support a proposal taken up by China and Russia. The Chinese plan attempts to legitimize the military annexation of about a fifth of Ukrainian territory by the Russians.
An agreement to support China’s proposal was signed by Lula’s special advisor, Celso Amorim, who serves as Brazil’s de facto foreign minister, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday (22) in Beijing .
According to international analysts, in practice, this agreement with Brazil is part of a series of coordinated actions between Moscow and Beijing to weaken or derail the Peace Summit, a global diplomatic effort led by the West to try to end the war. The event should bring together heads of state and government in Switzerland between June 15th and 16th, at the Bürgenstock resort.
This Friday (24), dictator Vladimir Putin, from Russia, took another step in the diplomatic offensive. He tried to regain the initiative in the pacification process by giving an interview calling for the resumption of peace negotiations. “Once again, there is talk of a return to negotiations. May they return! But let them come back not based on what one side wants, but based on the current situation on the ground. We are ready,” he said on a visit to Belarus. By speaking of “the current situation on the ground”, he shows that he is not willing to return the invaded territory in Ukraine.
Russia consolidated its dictatorial regime with a rigged election this year, according to international observers. The “election” gave Vladimir Putin his fifth consecutive term. In China, Xi Jinping has commanded the country since 2013 and is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and general commander of the Armed Forces. The partnership between the two countries, which also involves Iran, has been called by Western analysts as “the axis” or “axis of dictatorships”.
The peace proposal for Ukraine defended by China is part of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy program called the Global Security Initiative. Chinese analysts say the program’s focus is to prevent international intervention in countries’ internal affairs. Western experts assess that the Global Security Initiative is a program to undermine the system of alliances that unites the planet’s liberal democracies. Support for the invasion of Russia is justified by this initiative as a supposed defense of Moscow against the expansion of NATO (Western military alliance) in Eastern Europe.
Beijing has been striving to attract more and more developing countries into its sphere of influence. The Global Security Initiative is one of the three main branches of Chinese foreign policy, which also include the New Silk Road (a program to finance major projects in developing countries) and the Global Development Initiative (a project financing effort multilateral efforts to combat hunger, poverty and climate change). China is planning a high-level diplomatic meeting in Brazil in 2024 to further this agenda with the Lula government.
“China is particularly interested in the large emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt, Argentina… And at this time, when Brazil is governed by a political group ideologically sympathetic to the Communist Party of China (PCCh ), this visit aims to deepen this profile”, said professor Elton Gomes, from the Political Science department at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI).
A PT delegation also paid a visit to China in 2023. As part of these exchanges, the parties signed cooperation agreements to deepen relations.
Neutrality claimed by Lula is only in the speech, according to critics
Before joining the peace initiative in Ukraine led by China, Lula tried to lead in 2023 what he called the Peace Club, an effort to bring together heads of state and government to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. Without a concrete plan, the initiative failed, but Lula continued to publicly claim that Brazil would be neutral in the conflict.
Lula’s refusal to participate in the Peace Summit in Switzerland was seen by Ukraine as proof of the current Brazilian government’s commitment to Russia, according to Kyiv government sources who requested anonymity because they were still trying to achieve rapprochement with Brazil.
Ukraine is a supplier of fertilizers, medicines and polymers to Brazil and is trying to negotiate with the Lula government an increase in trade flow and a partnership in the area of aviation. The idea is to create an operations base and eventually manufacture Antonov planes, the largest freighters in the world. Another possibility is to resume the agreement to build and launch rockets for space exploration, which involved technology transfer and was terminated in 2017.
Russia has stated that it will not participate in the Peace Summit in Switzerland. Moscow has been trying to delegitimize the authority of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and his presence at the diplomatic meeting would give legitimacy to the Ukrainian leader. Zelensky’s presidential term ended this month, but the country did not hold new elections because it was at war and, as a consequence, in a state of Martial Law. One of the main Russian objectives in the invasion of Ukraine was the overthrow of Zelensky and his replacement with a president loyal to the Kremlin.
Ukraine hopes to bring together as many countries as possible in Switzerland so that when a ceasefire occurs, Russia will be forced to accept the international community’s terms for a lasting peace agreement. The Peace Summit will begin its debates based on the ten-point plan proposed by Ukraine.
Among the main points of the proposal are the withdrawal of Russian troops from the invaded territory under the terms of the UN Charter (which guarantees territorial integrity for nations), the release of all prisoners of war, the creation of mechanisms to prevent the spread of conflict , the adoption of nuclear, food and energy security measures and the official end of hostilities and conflict.
The Ukrainian government source interviewed by the report said that Kyiv believes that Brazil has more to gain from these measures than by supporting China and Russia. This is because the Peace Summit plan can restore global stability, prevent new wars and prevent new global food crises, such as the one that occurred in 2022, when Russia canceled the Black Sea grain export agreement.
#Lula #chooses #proposal #axis #dictatorships #war #Ukraine
jtoynp