LatinNews Daily - 21 November 2024

BRAZIL: Lula shores up relations with China

On 20 November Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva hosted his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Brasília, where government officials signed 37 bilateral agreements.

Analysis:

In April 2023, Lula led a large Brazilian delegation to China, and throughout 2024 several high-level government officials have visited Beijing, including Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. The meetings with the Chinese delegation yesterday presented a chance to solidify Brazil’s economic ties with its largest trade partner. The recent election victory in the US by former president Donald Trump (2017-2021), with whom Lula is not expected to have good personal rapport, has prompted speculation in the media that Brazil might be drawn further into the arms of China. However, as an indication that Brazil still prioritises maintaining stable relations with Washington, the Lula administration has not become an official signatory of China’s flagship international infrastructure investment programme, the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI).

• Media speculation over Brazil’s possible BRI membership intensified during Alckmin’s China trip in June. The vice president neither confirmed nor denied the speculation. If Brazil were to join the initiative, Lula and Xi’s meeting would have been a suitable occasion to announce the decision, but no announcement came yesterday.
• In one of the 37 agreements signed, Brazil “recognised the relevance” of the BRI and declared it was willing to “cooperate with [China] in the promotion of relevant projects”.
• In practice, however, signing up to the BRI would have been a largely symbolic gesture for Brazil, rather than offering a significant boost to its economic cooperation with China. Brazil’s government and largest corporations already have close ties with their partners in China and do not need the BRI to discuss funding for infrastructure projects.
• A testament to the depth of bilateral relations was the wide range of agreements signed yesterday, covering sectors such as agriculture, finance, mining, energy, technology, and environmental protection, among other areas.

Looking Ahead: One of the most controversial agreements from yesterday that could affect Brazil-US relations after Trump takes office in January was a memorandum of understanding with Chinese satellite company SpaceSail. The Chinese firm has been described in the press as a rival to US-based satellite company Starlink, a major satellite internet provider in Brazil which is owned by Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump.