Can China win over Lula’s Brazil again?
China is sending a high-level delegation to attend the inauguration of Brazil’s former President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is known to be an “old friend” in Beijing. But the world has only gotten more tense since Lula’s pro-China policies of the 2000s.
China’s Vice President Wáng Qíshān 王岐山 will lead a delegation to Brazil for the inauguration of newly-elect President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on January 1, 2023, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced today.
The meeting “speaks to the high importance China attaches to Brazil,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wāng Wénbīn 汪文斌 said (in English, Chinese) when he announced the plans at a daily press conference.
- “We believe this visit will give a strong boost to our comprehensive strategic partnership and bring it to new heights, delivering more benefits for both countries and peoples and contributing to regional and global peace, stability and prosperity,” Wang said.
Known as an “old friend” in Beijing, left-wing Lula won a heated election in October against right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who has been a vocal critic of China despite his enthusiasm to expand trade ties between the two nations.
- Lula previously served as Brazil’s President from 2003 to 2010, during which he oversaw the deep engagement between China and Brazil’s economies, leading China to become Brazil’s largest trading partner in 2009.
- He framed his first trip to Beijing as the most important foreign visit of his presidency in 2004.
- He also helped found BRICS — the grouping of major economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and later South Africa — which he has indicated will be at the forefront of his foreign policy.
- Upon news of Lula’s return to power, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhào Lìjiān 赵立坚 said that China looks forward to taking ties with Brazil to “a higher level.”
But Lula’s reelection may not automatically mean warmer ties with China despite his golden track record with Beijing. The world has only gotten more tense since he served in the 2000s, leaving some to question whether Lula’s China tilt will be able to navigate the current state of geopolitics.
- Brazil posted a record trade surplus for November, driven by booming exports to China. However, some domestic concerns are brewing over their deep economic engagement, with an eye on Chinese electric vehicle champion BYD actively expanding in the country.
- Lula is expected to make official trips to the United States and China in his first three months in office: Both Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 and U.S. President Joe Biden were quick to congratulate him on his reelection in October.
- His reelection is also the latest in a series of left-wing victories in Latin America, marking the sixth of the region’s seven largest economies. But the ideological alignment of the “new pink tide” will still have to contend with new divisive political realities, particularly between China and the United States.
See more:
- Pekingnology’s Zichen Wang has analyzed and translated an extensive interview in June 2021 between Lula and Eric X. Li (李世默 Lǐ Shìmò), a Chinese venture capitalist, avid pro-Beijing voice in the West, and founder of pro-government Chinese media platform Guancha.
- The China-Global South Project also covered China’s reaction to Lula’s election in November.
