Xi and Lula elevate China-Brazil ties in state visit (updated)

BRF SA

20/11/2024 14:06

* 
      Leaders hail relations as 'Community with a Shared Future'
    

        * 
      Lula and Xi sign nearly 40 accords for economic
cooperation
    

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      Brasilia visit follows G20 and APEC summits in Rio and
Lima
    

        * 
      Xi fills diplomatic vacuum between Biden and Trump
presidencies
    

  
 (Adds details of agreements, quotes from Xi and analyst,
business deals in paragraphs 1-13)
    By Ricardo Brito and Eduardo Baptista
       BRASILIA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - China's President Xi
Jinping and his Brazilian peer Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on
Wednesday upgraded the status of diplomatic relations and struck
agreements on infrastructure, energy and agribusiness,
tightening links between two of the world's largest developing
economies.
        The state visit in Brasilia capped a regional tour by Xi
that showcased Beijing's growing diplomatic clout during a
tricky government transition in Washington. 
  
    Xi and Lula both said the China-Brazil relationship had
become a "Community with a Shared Future for a More Just World
and Sustainable Planet," expanding a key slogan from the Chinese
leader in their joint declaration at the presidential residence.
    They also agreed to find "synergies" between the Chinese
Belt and Road Initiative and Brazilian development programs,
after Lula declined last year to formally include Brazil in
China's global infrastructure investment strategy.
        The countries struck nearly 40 cooperation agreements in
economic sectors from farming and solar power to communications
and nuclear energy, strengthening ties between the two nations
with more than $150 billion of bilateral trade, Lula said.
  
        "China-Brazil relations are now at their best moment
ever," said Xi, adding that China was ready to make the nations
"golden partners."
    Xi has used the term "Community with a Shared Future" to
formalize what Beijing sees as a positive and wide-ranging
bilateral relationship with a country sharing geopolitical and
economic interests, such as Vietnam.
    "This designation is reserved for partners China considers
truly special and irreplaceable," said Sunny Cheung, associate
fellow for China studies with the Jamestown Foundation. "For
Beijing, it underscores Brazil's strategic importance, both as a
leading voice in the Global South and as a critical partner in
ensuring China's long-term economic and food security."
        Brazil's Agriculture Ministry cheered the potential for
$450 million in new exports to China as 
    new trade accords
     opened its market for Brazilian sorghum, fresh grapes,
sesame and fishmeal. 
  
        Brazilian meat packer BRF  BRFS3.SA , the world's
largest chicken exporter, in parallel announced a deal to 
    acquire a processed foods factory
     in China's Henan province for $43 million, along with plans
to invest $36 million in expanding the plant.
  
        Although Brazil-China trade relations have been growing
for decades, their diplomatic relations faltered under Lula's
right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who echoed anti-China
rhetoric from former U.S. President 
    Donald Trump
    , an ideological ally.
  
        During Lula and Xi's meeting on Wednesday, China's low
Earth orbit satellite company SpaceSail, which aims to 
    challenge Elon Musk's Starlink
    , signed an agreement with Brazil's state telecom Telebras
 TELB4.SA  to enter the Brazilian market.
        Brazilian state bank BNDES said it had arranged for a 5
billion yuan ($690 million) loan from China Development Bank -
the first such operation denominated in the Chinese currency.
  
        
    DIPLOMATIC TOUR
    The state visit in Brasilia came after twin summits for Xi
in the past week: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in
Lima and then the Group of 20 major economies in Rio de Janeiro.
    Xi played a central role at the summits, while U.S.
President Joe Biden arrived as a lame duck with just two months
left in the White House and little leverage as Trump vows a
total foreign policy overhaul.
    A group portrait on the first day of the G20 summit captured
the moment, with Xi front and center, next to the presidents of
Brazil, India and South Africa - China's partners in the BRICS
group of major developing nations and the three consecutive G20
hosts from 2023 to 2025.
    Biden missed that photo op for "logistical reasons," the
White House said.
    With Biden diminished and Trump averse to multilateral
forums, diplomats and foreign policy experts said Xi's charm
offensive was filling a vacuum in an unsettled global order.
    China's side meetings with Western powers amid trade and
geopolitical tensions, from the U.S. and Britain to France and
Germany, showed a conciliatory turn from Beijing ahead of four
more rocky years facing down Trump, said Li Xing, a professor at
the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies
    "China's strategy is clear, the posture it is displaying is
to let go of past resentment," said Li. "This is definitely an
adjustment, and it's all because this year's G20 summit was in a
transition period following the U.S. election."
    Behind the scenes, several diplomats who had been part of
previous G20 summits noticed an evolving posture from the
Chinese - less focused on their own narrow interests and more
proactive about forging a wider consensus.
    "China is much more involved and much more constructive,"
said one Brazilian diplomat, requesting anonymity to discuss the
negotiations.
    A European diplomat noted that Chinese peers helped to build
consensus this year on several fronts, including topics such as
women's rights where they had not been traditionally active. It
looked like a conscious move to occupy a multilateral forum that
Trump is likely to neglect, the diplomat added.
    "A place left unoccupied will be occupied by another," said
the European diplomat. "Apparently China is interested in
occupying more than it has to date."
 ($1 = 7.25 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia, Eduardo Baptista, Jake
Spring, Lisandra Paraguassu and Elizabeth Pineau in Rio de
Janeiro
Editing by Brad Haynes, Michael Perry and Jonathan Oatis)
 ((brad.c.haynes@tr.com; +55 11 5644 7725;))