Brazil’s Lula to Visit China to ‘Enhance Economic Ties’ Amid Global Turbulence

By Leng Shumei and Liu Caiyu

Mar 17, 2023 03:29 PM

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Photo: VCG

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will make a state visit to China later this month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Friday. Economic cooperation will be a key topic during the visit, experts said, noting that enhanced cooperation between the two sides will help boost the confidence of the international community in economic recovery in the post-pandemic era.  

Lula will visit China from March 26 to 31, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced.

The visit comes at a critical time in the post pandemic era. Economic cooperation between China and Brazil will be one of key topics to be touched on during his visit, Pan Deng, executive director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Friday.

"Mutual communications and boosting the economy are of great significance to reshaping and boosting confidence in the international economic order as a whole in the post pandemic era," Pan said.

Lula was sworn in as president of Brazil for the third time in January. 

Experts predicted that under the presidency of the veteran left-wing politician, who is also an old friend of China, economic and trade cooperation between China and Brazil will be further deepened, which will help ease Brazil's predicament of high inflation and low economic growth. 

Mutual trust between China and Brazil on bilateral cooperation under the framework of the emerging-market bloc BRICS, as well as cooperation on economy and trade, environmental protection, the green economy and other fields is expected to be brought to a higher level, observers said.

Brazil is a responsible major power and rising power that shares common pursuits, a similar development phase and a complementary economic structure with China, Pan said. 

The triumphant return of Lula to Brazil's presidency has brought China-Brazil relations to the right track, which had earlier suffered from a hold-up due to former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. It can be foreseen that bilateral relations between the two countries will be boosted, breaking through obstacles and heading toward a brighter path, Pan noted.

As supporters of multilateralism, a better and deeper bilateral relationship between China and Brazil will surely contribute to the peace and justice of the international order.

Trade between China and Brazil is particularly complementary, with Brazil having an advantage in producing agricultural products and China having products that fulfill Brazil's need to improve livelihoods, Pan noted. 

China and Brazil are on the same page in agreeing on the great benefits of technology to national development, so there will be a lot of cooperation between the two countries in this field, noticeably application of internet, civil aviation and new energy, Pan said. 

"The joining of hands between China and Brazil in technology cooperation will benefit the development of science and technology and people's livelihoods around the whole world, and will see developing countries make a contribution in this regard," the expert said. 

The bilateral trade volume between China and Brazil in 2022 reached about $171.5 billion, showing a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent, according to the China Customs.  

The main products China imported from Brazil in 2022 included iron sand and soybean, while the main products China exported to Brazil included machinery equipment, computer and communications equipment as well as transport vehicles.