Brazil – China: Exceptional Outcomes of Xi Jinping’s State Visit

Brazil and China have signed 37 agreements in many strategic sectors, including agriculture, trade, investment, infrastructure, industry, energy, mining, finance, science and technology, telecommunications, sustainable development, renewable energy, tourism, sports, health, education, and culture. These are the exceptional results of the state visit to the Latin American country by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was welcomed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at his official residence in the Alvorada Palace. A lengthy private conversation between the two leaders was followed by an extended meeting of numerous Brazilian and Chinese delegations.

After the talks, Lula said that in the face of the challenges of the 21st century, Brazil and China, separated by the Pacific Ocean but close to each other in spirit, should strengthen their strategic partnership, raising it to the level of “a community of shared future for a more just and sustainable world.”

For the time being, Brazil has refrained from joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), commonly known as the New Silk Road. Despite this, the Brazilian president emphasized the desire to expand and diversify trade with China, Brazil’s main trading partner since 2009, with a record trade volume of 157 billion dollars in 2023. In addition, President Lula expressed his willingness to “create synergies” between China’s New Silk Road and Brazil’s development strategy, including the New Brazilian Industry Program (NIB), the Program to Accelerate Economic Growth (CAP), the South American Integration Pathways Plan, and the Environmental Transformation Plan.

Plans for strategic cooperation between Brazil and China extend over the next 50 years and include working together in many sensitive areas, including sustainable infrastructure, energy transition, artificial intelligence, digital economy, healthcare, and aerospace.

At the level of international politics, the two leaders expressed the need to find “a political solution” to the crisis in Ukraine, which Xi Jinping defined as a “complex problem” with no “simple solutions.” The two countries share a “common vision” of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and have proposed a peace plan, divided into six points, to be discussed with the participation of both leaders. “In a world marked by armed conflict and geopolitical tensions,” Lula said, “China and Brazil are putting peace, diplomacy, and dialogue at the center.” For his part, the Chinese president reiterated the importance of giving more space to voices advocating for peace, emphasizing that “the current world is not peaceful at all.” According to Xi Jinping, “only by adopting a vision of security that is global, cooperation-based, and sustainable can the road to universal security be paved.”