BRASÍLIA, DF (FOLHAPRESS) – Renato Machado, Marianna Holanda and Matheus Teixeira Brasília The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) intends to double down on the president’s trip to China, opposing a broad agenda in Beijing to the lack of concrete results from the visit to Washington in February.
At the end of this month, Lula will make a four-day trip to the Asian country, in which he should meet with President Xi Jinping and seek business and partnerships for Brazil. The expectation is that the PT candidate will be accompanied by a large entourage of businessmen, both from the industrial and agricultural sectors.
The dimension of the undertaking contrasts with the schedule of just one day in the US capital, in early February. On the occasion, Lula was received with honors and deference by the American president, Joe Biden, which interlocutors in the Brazilian government point out to have been important for the geopolitical insertion of the PT in his third term.
The meeting with Biden still fulfilled the objective of sealing a joint agenda in defense of democracy, an issue that unites the two administrations. Many analysts point to the mirroring between the invasion of government palaces in Brasília by coup leaders on January 8 and the assault on the Capitol in Washington that, which occurred two years earlier, sought to prevent the certification of the democrat’s victory.
On the other hand, the meeting brought few effective partnerships between the two countries, such as the signing of agreements and investment promises.
The expected US donation to the Amazon Fund did not materialize, and the proposed amount of US$ 50 million (about R$ 260 million) frustrated the Brazilian government. On a trip to Brazil weeks after the meeting between Lula and Biden, the United States special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, said that the American government remains committed to the fund, but did not mention values.
Asked by journalists about a possible contribution, Kerry mentioned two bills being discussed in the House and Senate of his country that provide for a total of US$ 13.5 billion (about R$ 70 billion) to mitigate and combat global warming and other climate problems.
This value encompasses, however, initiatives around the world, including within the US. And even so, Kerry said that passing the measures would be “a struggle”, and that therefore other financing solutions were sought.
Disappointed with the result of his trip to Washington, Lula intends to use his trip to Beijing to meet two objectives. The first of them is to re-strengthen relations with the Asian giant, shaken during the management of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The country is Brazil’s main trading partner, with whom it maintains a flow of R$ 125 billion.
In addition, the government tries to pressure the Americans to offer new investment, trade and cooperation partnerships. According to aides, the idea is to get Americans to “put their hands in their pockets”.
The US and China — the two biggest economic powers in the world — are now the protagonists of a broad geopolitical dispute. One of the Americans’ concerns is the growing Chinese influence in regions such as Latin America.
Lula intends to take a large entourage to the Asian country, with ministers, technicians and businessmen. In addition to the high-level meetings with Brazilian and Chinese authorities, a seminar organized by the Brazil-China Business Council is scheduled to take place in the period.
The very business character of the visit to Beijing contrasts with the agenda in Washington. In the US, Lula did not have meetings with businessmen and, in addition to Biden, he met with the most left wing of the Democratic Party and with an American union.
As he needs to replace Lula in Brazil, acting as president in office, vice president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) should not go to China.
Business articulations are centered, however, on the portfolio under his command, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce, which works with the objective of attracting investment to Brazil and also closing partnerships that bring the production of goods to the country.
The government’s intention is to seek cooperation with China and address issues in various economic areas, with an emphasis on energy transition and food security. There is also the prospect of an announcement of a partnership by Embraer, a topic that has been treated in a reserved manner by Brazilians.
The trip promises to be a litmus test for the Lula government’s reconciliation with agribusiness. Broad segments of the sector supported former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the October elections, including funding anti-democratic acts.
Another important point of the trip will be the signing of a new cooperation contract to put the Cbers-6 satellite into orbit. This is the new phase of Sino-Brazilian aerospace cooperation, which has already launched other satellites together.
An interlocutor in the government recalls that balancing between China and the US to obtain advantages on both sides is not new, but a historical practice of Brazilian foreign policy. He cites as an example the benefits obtained by the Getulio Vargas government with Germany and the United States during the Second World War.
From a political point of view, Planalto’s analysis is that the consolidation of the two fronts would give Lula his first major demonstration of strength on the international stage, at a time when the PT seeks to resume the diplomatic protagonism that Brazil had before Bolsonaro .
Another strategy is the PT’s attempt to spearhead a plan to mediate a solution to the Ukrainian War. Earlier this month, the president spoke with the Ukrainian leader, Volodimir Zeleski, via videoconference.