Lula Hails “Extraordinary” China Ties Amid Bid to Reconstruct Relations

By Staff, Agencies

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hails the exceptional quality of his country's ties with China amid his apparent bid to reconstruct the relations away from their frosty nature under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

"We have an extraordinary relationship with China, a relationship that grows more mature and stronger every day," Lula said during a meeting in Beijing on Friday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

For his part, Xi said Beijing was willing to work with Brasilia from a strategic perspective to steer and create a new future for China-Brazil relations.

Lula, who took office in January, is seeking friendly ties with rather the entire rest of the world after four years of relative isolation under Bolsonaro, who would align the country overwhelmingly with the United States.

After the meeting with Xi, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters that Brasilia and Beijing were planning a "leap forward" in their relationship.

Brazil is already the biggest recipient of Chinese investment in Latin America, according to Chinese state media. And China overtook the US as Brazil’s biggest export market in 2009.

"President Lula wants a policy of reindustrialization. This visit starts a new challenge for Brazil: Bringing direct investments from China," Haddad said.

He added that Brazil wanted strong bonds with the US as well, but noted with regret that recently "some American companies made the decision to leave Brazil."

Lula, who arrived on an extended visit on Wednesday, met on Thursday with the CEO of Chinese manufacturer BYD, which produces electric busses and is in talks to start operations at a factory the Brazilian state of Bahia, Lula’s office said. The previous owner, Ford Motor Co., announced in 2021 that it was shuttering the plant, along with two others in Brazil.

Also on Thursday, the Brazilian president blasted the monstrous role of the US dollar in the global economy.

The two nations forged a recent pact to trade in their own currencies, ditching the US dollar as an intermediary.

"Why should every country have to be tied to the dollar for trade? Who decided the dollar would be the world's currency?" asked Lula at a Thursday ceremony in China’s largest city and global financial hub, Shanghai, to inaugurate his political ally Dilma Rousseff as president of the New Development Bank set up by the BRICS member nations – Brazil, China, Russia, India, and South Africa.