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Lula reaffirms his support for Xi: "Brazil wants the relationship with China to go beyond trade"

2023-04-14T15:30:44.126Z


The Chinese president has affirmed that both nations "share many interests" and relations will be "key to world peace, stability and prosperity."


The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, made it clear this Friday to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that both play on the same side and that Brasilia is willing to be a key player in the defense of the multipolar world order to which Beijing aspires.

“We want the relationship with China to not be merely commercial.

We want it to go further and be deep, strong,” Lula said at the beginning of the meeting, still with the cameras in front of him.

Xi, for his part, stressed that "the continuous, healthy and stable development of relations will play a key role for world peace, stability and prosperity."

After a delay of more than an hour and a half, the Brazilian leader has canceled the press conference that he had scheduled to provide his version of the match.

Lula was received this Friday with honors by the Chinese president at the Great Palace of the People, located in Tiananmen.

"I am happy to meet my old friend once again in Beijing at this time when spring is blooming," Xi said.

According to the official reading provided by the Chinese authorities, Xi stated that "as comprehensive strategic partners, China and Brazil share many common interests" and assured that for the Asian giant "ties [between the two] are a diplomatic priority."

According to the Chinese press release, Lula affirmed that his country is "committed to building closer relations with China" and "shaping a fair and equitable international order."

As for the war in Ukraine, which China continues to describe as a "crisis", the two presidents "agreed that dialogue and negotiation is the only feasible way to solve it", that "all efforts leading to its resolution should be encouraged." peaceful resolution” and “agreed to stay in communication on the subject.”

Lula was expected to present to Xi his proposal that a group of non-aligned countries try to persuade Russia and Ukraine to seek a negotiated way out of the dispute.

The Brazilian has always positioned himself as a clear defender of multilateral diplomacy, in line with the vision of the world that China promotes through its Global Security Initiative.

Furthermore, Lula categorically refuses to arm Ukrainian troops and, like Xi, opposes the use of sanctions.

Lula da Silva and his wife, Rosangela da Silva, in Tiananmen Square, this Friday.

HANDOUT (Via REUTERS)

The meeting comes at a time when China seeks to increase its economic and political influence in Latin America, amid growing tensions with the United States.

Leaving behind three years of stubborn fight against the pandemic and after securing a third term unprecedented since the time of Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping is embarking on a round of diplomatic appointments with which he intends to demonstrate that China has begun to assume a more active role. on the geopolitical board.

Beijing wants to show itself to the world as a responsible power – despite the increased pressure it is exerting on Taiwan – but both Brussels and Washington are skeptical of its equidistance in the war tilted towards Moscow.

Xi traveled to Russia last month, where she strengthened ties with President Vladimir Putin, with whom she signed an "unlimited friendship" two weeks before the Kremlin decided to drive its tanks across Ukraine's borders.

He went to Moscow with his "proposal for a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis" under his arm, which includes a call for a ceasefire.

Last week, the Chinese leader received the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and a few days before the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez.

Although the European leaders defended their unwavering support for Zelensky's peace plan – with whom Xi has not yet spoken since the start of the invasion – they claimed to find elements of interest in the road map proposed by Beijing, such as the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty of all States or the resounding rejection of the use of nuclear weapons.

On the economic front, Xi and Lula this afternoon presided over the signing of 14 agreements to strengthen cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, the automobile industry;

agribusiness, green credit lines, information technology, health and infrastructure.

Among the commitments signed, the construction of the sixth satellite manufactured between the two nations stands out, CBERS-6, which will monitor the biomass of the Amazon rainforest.

Lula showed his willingness to strengthen the alliance between emerging countries on Thursday in Shanghai, where he attended the inauguration of former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff as president of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).

The financial entity was created in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa with the aspiration of serving as an alternative to traditional international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.

“We are back on the international stage, after an inexplicable absence,” Lula said.

Xi and Lula shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.Ken Ishii (AP)

“The decision to create the NDB was a milestone in the joint action of the emerging countries,” Lula expressed in an impassioned speech, “[which] demonstrated that our union is capable of generating relevant social and economic changes for the world.”

“The NDB meets all the conditions to become the great bank of the Global South”, “it has great potential, because it frees emerging countries from the submission of traditional financial institutions that want to govern us”, added the Brazilian.

In addition to the BRICS, the bank counts among its members Egypt, Bangladesh, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates.

Lula also took the opportunity to question the dependence on the dollar in international trade transactions, statements that are in line with Beijing's efforts to promote the use of the Chinese yuan and strengthen the role of the world's second largest economy in the world financial system. .

In February, the central banks of China and Brazil agreed to use the yuan for cross-border transactions.

The Brazilian president also visited a Huawei research and development center in Shanghai.

The main Chinese manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, which established its operations on Brazilian soil 25 years ago, became the third largest provider of cloud services in the country last year, according to Brazilian media Teletime.

Huawei is also playing a fundamental role in the deployment of 5G networks in Brazil, despite Washington's attempts to "pressure the Brazilian government to prevent it," according to a company statement on its website.

"The visit to Huawei is a demonstration that we want to tell the world that we are not prejudiced in our relationship with China," Lula said, according to EFE.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-04-14

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