By Ethan Wang and Ryan Woo and Lisandra Paraguassu
BEIJING/BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil re-established its diplomatic ties with China, its biggest trading partner, with a state visit on Friday in which the countries agreed to increase investment and cooperation in technology and sustainable development, while also calling for peace talks in Ukraine.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and several of his ministers signed the agreements with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials in Beijing.
Xi said China has made relations with Brazil a diplomatic priority and the two countries should deepen practical cooperation in sectors such as agriculture, energy and infrastructure construction, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“We have an extraordinary relationship with China, a relationship that is becoming more acute and stronger every day,” Lula said before his meeting with Xi.
Brazil and China need to work together so that the relationship is not just one of commercial interest, added Lula.
The two leaders agreed that dialogue and negotiation are the “only viable way” to resolve the war in Ukraine, according to a joint statement. They called on other countries to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement between Ukraine and Russia.
It was a mention, still without details, of the theme of war in light of Brazil’s intentions to propose the creation of a group of countries to negotiate an end to the conflict, with the participation of Beijing.
Before the trip, Lula said he would like to return from Asia announcing the creation of the mechanism — Brazil is going to receive Russian chancellor Sergei Lavrov next week.
Lula’s visit comes after four years of rocky relations with China under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, when trade remained unchanged but investment by Chinese companies fell.
In a new focus for bilateral relations, the two countries decided to strengthen cooperation in environmental protection and tackling climate change, and will create a committee for this in their strategic partnership negotiations.
They agreed to work together with developing countries in international forums on climate issues, while calling for increased funding for sustainable development projects.
China has pledged to support clean energy and green hydrogen production in Brazil, but there has been no announcement about a bilateral green investment fund that Brazil has proposed to finance and subsidize renewable energy development.
China and Brazil also agreed to create a working group to pursue cooperation in semiconductors, strengthening ties with Beijing in areas of sensitive technology.
Information technology has been a sticking point in China’s relations with the United States and European countries, which in some cases have banned Chinese products for security reasons.
Brazil, however, is interested in attracting Chinese investment in these areas, despite pressure from the US government in recent years discouraging the use of fifth-generation mobile equipment from technology giant Huawei Technologies.
Before the visit, Lula’s special advisor, Celso Amorim, told Reuters that Brazil is open to the eventual installation of a Chinese semiconductor factory in the country and that Brasília is interested in developing the technology in cooperation with China.
On Thursday, Lula visited Huawei’s research center in Shanghai and was informed about its technology, also trying out its virtual reality headset.
Lula said in public statements in Beijing that his visit to Huawei was “a demonstration that we want to tell the world that we have no prejudices in our relations with the Chinese.”
“Nobody is going to prohibit Brazil from improving its relationship with China,” he added.
China overtook the United States as Brazil’s top trading partner in 2009 and is an important market for Brazilian soybeans, iron ore and oil. Brazil is currently the largest recipient of Chinese investment in Latin America, driven by spending on high voltage electricity transmission lines and oil production.
On Friday, the two countries agreed to encourage their companies to invest in each country’s infrastructure, energy transition, logistics, mining, agriculture and high-tech industries.
The Brazilian Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said that the two are deepening studies to carry out trade in local currencies, noting that the idea of reducing dependence on the dollar is already on the agenda of the Brics group, made up of the main emerging countries.
During the first day of the visit, in Shanghai, Lula participated in the inauguration ceremony of former president Dilma Rousseff in charge of the New Development Bank (NBD), the bank of the Brics, and also defended global trade in local currencies.
Lula should leave China on Saturday morning for Asia, and will stop in the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Brasília. The Brazilian representative invited the Chinese Xi Jinping to visit Brazil in 2024.
(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Judy Hua and Ryan Woo in Beijing, Meg Shen in Hong Kong, Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthohy Boadle in Brasilia; Reporting by)
#China #Brazil #relaunch #relations #targeting #technology #environment #call #peace #talks #Ukraine #ISTOÉ #DINHEIRO