Lula da Silva postpones his official visit to China due to pneumonia

President Lula visits this Thursday the reconstruction works of the National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro. Antonio Lacerda (EFE)

Pneumonia has ruined the most important official visit, in political and commercial terms, of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 77, at the beginning of his third term.

The trip to China, which was to begin this Sunday and included a meeting with President Xi Jinping, has been definitively postponed "on medical recommendation", as announced by the Presidency of the Republic in a statement.

The president has been diagnosed with "bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia due to influenza A" and his condition is improving, the note added.

The Chinese authorities have been informed.

The Brazilian president was going to meet with Xi in search of investments and promote mediation in the war in Ukraine.

The original plan was for Lula to leave for China this Saturday for a four-day stay between Beijing and Shanghai, but on Friday morning his spokeswoman announced that the president had mild pneumonia and that the departure was postponed to Sunday.

That meant missing a meeting of businessmen from both countries, but it did not affect his meeting with Xi, scheduled for Tuesday the 28th. Also on the agenda, meetings with the prime minister, with other authorities and a visit to a Huawei factory, a Chinese technology considered by the US government a global threat.

The undated postponement represents a considerable setback for Brazil because the expectations surrounding the visit to its first trading partner were high.

The South American was going to travel with a gigantic entourage, more than 200 businessmen, as well as ministers and governors.

Some of them are already in China.

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