Brazil | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

11/11/2019

Spotlight: China-Brazil trade set to reach new heights

SAO PAULO, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) — Though separated by oceans and continents, China and Brazil have fostered deepening bilateral cooperation over the years, especially in investment, trade and finance.

With the upcoming 11th BRICS summit in Brazil’s capital Brasilia, expectations are high for the development of closer ties between the two countries.

STRENGTHENING INVESTMENT

China and Brazil have bolstered investment ties in recent years, and the Asian country has become Brazil’s largest source of foreign investment.

The two countries are not only deepening cooperation in the traditional areas of agriculture, electricity, mining and infrastructure, but also fostering growth in new areas such as technology innovation and the digital economy.

Last month, Brazilian telecommunications giant Oi put Chinese company Huawei’s 5G technology to the test during a local music festival — the largest trial of the 5G technology in Brazil.

Chinese Internet giant Alibaba’s website AliExpress has become one of Brazil’s most popular cross-border e-commerce platforms. Chinese Internet company Tencent and mobile ride-hailing platform DiDi have also invested in Brazilian companies.

Finally, the participation of Latin American countries — including Brazil — in jointly building the Belt and Road will provide a great opportunity for these countries to enhance investment cooperation with China, said Oliver Stuenkel, an expert of international relations at Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation.

INCREASING TRADE

Although the global economy is facing downward pressure, bilateral trade between China and Brazil has continuously climbed, as both countries are committed to opening up their markets.

China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner and largest export market for a decade. In 2018, bilateral trade hit a record 100 billion U.S. dollars, official data showed.

Cheese bread, Brazil’s favorite breakfast and snack food, is now available at cafeterias in China, thanks to the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai last year.

In May, Brazil’s leading cheese bread maker Forno de Minas shipped its first container of 10 tons of cheese bread to China, supplying cafeterias in Shanghai. Two months later, the bakery shipped a second batch of 18 tons to China.

Brazil is also dedicated to opening up by optimizing its business environment. Li Tie, general manager of the Brazilian branch of BYD, a leading Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles and batteries, said that the Brazilian government has actively promoted pension and labor law reforms and is planning to carry out tax reforms.

China and Brazil should further enhance their economic and trade relations, which have been fruitful and mutually beneficial, said Sergio Segovia, president of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency.

FINANCIAL COOPERATION

The two countries have enhanced cooperation in the financial sector.

In September, the Brazil government relaxed restrictions on the establishment of financial institutions. Bank XCMG, affiliated to China’s Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, has become the first foreign bank that was approved by Brazil’s central bank after the release of the new regulation, and the bank’s foreign shareholding ratio is as high as 100 percent.

Wang Yansong, XCMG’s vice president, said that Bank XCMG will carry out financial leasing and other services in Brazil and help companies reduce exchange rate risks and financing costs.

As cross-border trade grows, fin-tech companies from both countries have carried out in-depth cooperation, such as that between Brazilian financial payment company Ebanx and AliExpress, in providing consumers with cross-border payment solutions.

In 2018, Ebanx handled 35 million cross-border transactions related to Chinese merchants, said its co-founder and CFO Wagner Ruiz. He expressed the hope that the company can help Chinese merchants sell more in Latin America in the future.

The BRICS leaders’ meeting is an excellent opportunity for Brazil to deepen business, investment and financial cooperation with China and other BRICS countries, said Marcos Trojan, special secretary for foreign trade and international affairs of Brazil’s Ministry of Economy.

Source: Xinhua

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08/11/2019

Xi Focus: Xi’s trip to Greece, Brazil to advance bilateral ties, BRICS cooperation

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Greece and Brazil is expected to intensify China’s relations with the two countries and enhance BRICS cooperation, officials said here Thursday.

At the invitation of Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Xi will pay a state visit to Greece from Nov. 10 to 12, said Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

This will be the first visit to the European country by a Chinese president after an interval of 11 years, which will exert a historic influence of China-Greece ties and push forward China-Europe relations and Belt and Road cooperation, Qin said.

He noted that China and Greece, both with old civilizations, are trustworthy and helpful friends respecting and supporting each other on core interests and major concerns.

Greece is among the first European Union (EU) countries to sign an intergovernmental cooperation document with China to jointly construct the Belt and Road, Qin said, adding that Greek prime ministers attended the first and second Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation in Beijing.

The two sides have conducted fruitful cooperation on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and witnessed increased bilateral trade and investment, Qin said.

“The Piraeus Port project, a flagship project for the Belt and Road cooperation, has made important contributions to the local economic and social development of Greece and played an important role in advancing connectivity in various regions around the globe,” said the vice foreign minister.

Speaking of people-to-people and cultural exchanges, Qin said peoples of the two countries respect each other and advocate openness and inclusiveness in their close interactions.

“Both China and Greece hold that different civilizations should respect each other and facilitate experience sharing, mutual learning and conversation among civilizations,” he said.

China and Greece are new friends of the “17 +1” cooperation. In April this year, Greece became a full member of the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation Mechanism, adding new opportunities to the development of this mechanism, which is also conducive to developing China-EU relations and China-EU connectivity, Qin said.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis led a delegation to the ongoing second China International Import Expo (CIIE). Xi met with him, and the two leaders visited the Greek pavilion, Qin said.

According to Qin, in Greece, Xi is scheduled to hold talks respectively with Pavlopoulos and Mitsotakis, in a bid to consolidate political mutual trust and traditional friendship between the two countries, intensify pragmatic cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure and other fields, uphold multilateralism and free trade and build an open world economy.

Besides, Qin noted that the Chinese and Greek leaders will conduct cultural exchanges and advocate dialogues among civilizations.

The two sides will issue a joint statement on strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership, draw up a blueprint for the development of bilateral ties, sign intergovernmental cooperation documents on investment and education, and ink commercial agreements in such fields as ports, finance, and energy.

Greece, in the West, and China, in the East, are heirs of ancient civilizations. Noting that both China and Greece are faced with the mission of rejuvenation and prosperity, Qin said the two countries can enlighten the world to deal with various problems and challenges.

Xi’s upcoming visit to Greece shows respect and appreciation of the ancient Chinese civilization to the ancient Greek civilization, as well as the expectation of jointly building a community with a shared future for humanity, Qin said.

It is believed the visit will elevate the level of bilateral cooperation in an all-round way and inject new impetus to the development of China-EU relations with fruitful results, Qin stressed.

According to Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, at the invitation of Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Xi will attend the 11th BRICS summit in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, from Nov. 13 to 14.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Xi is scheduled to attend the closing ceremony of the BRICS business forum, closed and public meetings of the BRICS leaders’ meeting and the BRICS leaders’ dialogue with the BRICS Business Council and the New Development Bank. The leaders’ declaration is expected to be released, Ma said.

Xi will hold talks with Bolsonaro, sign cooperation documents in various fields, and hold bilateral meetings with leaders of other participating countries to exchange views on ties and BRICS cooperation, Ma said.

As the world is undergoing changes rarely seen in a century and confronted with unprecedented opportunities and challenges, BRICS countries have drawn ever-growing attention worldwide, Ma said, stressing that China appreciates the efforts made by Brazil in its preparation and stands ready to jointly prompt the meeting to achieve fruitful results.

He voiced expectations of the Chinese side.

“The Chinese side hopes that BRICS countries will further enhance political mutual trust, boost mutually beneficial cooperation and forge a more comprehensive, closer and broader partnership,” Ma said.

As for safeguarding multilateralism and strengthening global governance, Ma voiced China’s determination to make joint efforts with other BRICS countries to safeguard the rules-based multilateral trade system, the international order based on international law, and the international system with the UN at the core.

This aims to promote a more equitable, open, transparent and inclusive global governance system and safeguard common interests and development space of emerging markets and developing countries, Ma said.

“China believes the five BRICS countries should follow the trend of the new industrial revolution and facilitate economic transformation and upgrading,” Ma noted.

As an important outcome of last year’s Johannesburg meeting, the BRICS partnership for a new industrial revolution has progressed well in the past year, he said, adding that China is willing to work with concerned parties to accelerate the development of the partnership and tap more potential for cooperation projects, so as to propel high-quality development of the five countries.

“China looks forward to more cooperation on economy, trade, finance, political security and people-to-people exchanges, with projects meeting the development needs of the five countries and serving the interests of their peoples,” he said.

The Chinese side believes that with concerted efforts of all parties and under the political guidance of the five countries’ leaders, the 11th BRICS Summit will be a full success, Ma said, stressing that the BRICS countries will continue to contribute to world peace and development and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Source: Xinhua

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03/10/2019

Discover China: Run-down house finds new life as deluxe hotel

FUZHOU, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — Zheng Yangmei, 35, has mixed feelings about working as a receptionist in her childhood home, a 400-year-old country lodge that has been adapted into a luxury hotel in southeast China’s Fujian Province.

The new profession gives her a different angle to perceive the beauty of the ancestral house built sustaining Tang Dynasty (618-907) architecture style, as experts marveled.

The restoration is beyond her family clan’s imagination, which keeps the historic details of the dilapidated residence as much as possible, while replacing the interior with modern decor suitable for comfortable living.

The place of a stinky hog pen in the yard, which Zheng remembers, is turned into a tea pavilion decorated with a neutral color palette. But the lodge is still roughly what she remembers, wood carvings, stone mills and the grey-tile roofs.

Tucked away in the idyllic village of Banding, an hour’s drive north of Fuzhou, the provincial capital, the old house offers a breathtaking view in the backdrop of lush mountains and a vast expanse of paddy fields.

Named “Sanluocuo,” or three juxtaposed houses, the wood and stone complex covers an area of 3,000 square meters and consists of over 200 dark shabby rooms, where Zheng spent part of her childhood life bunking with her parents and two siblings in a 25-square-meter room.

Since the mid 16th century, it has been held by the extended Zheng family clan. Zheng remembers that there were over 200 members living in the houses when she was there.

“There was no toilet, no tap water in each house,” said Zheng, whose family moved out of the aged buildings when she was 8, as they could no longer fix the house. Instead, they built new two-story brick houses 1,000 meters away.

The old buildings were completely abandoned by all the villagers in the early 2000s, Zheng recalled.

She left the village for college study at the age of 19 and then worked as a vet in several pig farms in more prosperous towns, until 2013 when she got married and returned to the village to raise her kids.

“Villagers seldom went back to the buildings, considering the place pretty spooky, with filthy water, messy electric wires hung in the air like spider webs and cracks on walls,” said Zheng, a mother of two daughters.

Elders of the family clan called on the clan members to raise funds to fix leaky roof tiles, control termites, and straighten leaning walls to prevent the ancestral houses from completely collapsing, but nobody would imagine it can be fixed in a way that the hotel developer later did.

With the local government-initiated plan for preserving ancient folk houses, a property company came in investing 150 million yuan (20.98 million U.S. dollars) to rehab the obsolete buildings.

After two years of reconstruction, “Sanluocuo” was turned into a trendy boutique hotel with centuries-old wooden beams, garden-like atriums, earthen walls and contemporary luxury.

The transformative creation of “Sanluocuo” is among the artworks selected for the China Pavilion overseas show at the ongoing Biennale de Curitiba 2019 in Brazil, as a model for “building a future countryside.”

“We actually leased the complex from the villagers for the renovation. The old rooms were very small. So we converted the original 200 cramped rooms into 40 guest rooms to make them comfortable for living, but we pay the rents based on 200 rooms to the villagers,” said Zhang Yiwen, operations manager of the project.

Targeted at high-flown customers, the hotel rooms in “Sanluocuo” are priced on average at over 600 yuan per night even in the off season.

Visitors can touch the original wood pillars with deep cracks, and decayed rammed-earth walls with weeds, while enjoying hot bath and clean toilets with heated seats inside each room.

The hall that used to house the Zheng family shrine and warehouses have been converted to galleries, restaurants, bars and stores attached to the hotel, which help the village unleash its cultural potential, and once again become a place that villagers like hanging around in leisure time.

The project has triggered an online sensation, after visitors post their travel photos inside the hotel, showing off their cultural and stylish taste on social media.

Zhang said weeks ahead of the National Day holiday, all of the 40 rooms were booked out.

Zheng and 30 other villagers are employed in the hotel, which has also sparked an entrepreneurial enthusiasm in the village. Zhang said the hotel is willing to help villagers open small inns, eateries and stores selling souvenirs and local delicacies, to further improve the village’s tourist potential.

Zhang said the real estate developer of “Sanluocuo,” Land Shine, has leased two more clusters of such old residence from a neighboring village, as folks bear wishes that their obsolete ancestry complex could shine as well as “Sanluocuo.”

Source: Xinhua

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19/09/2019

Int’l fellowship program shares China’s development with world

LANZHOU, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) — A total of 26 participants from 21 countries including Brazil, New Zealand and the United States attended the closing ceremony of the Gansu International Fellowship Program held Tuesday in the capital city of Lanzhou, northwest China’s Gansu Province.

Held by the provincial government, the 30-day program, starting from Aug. 20, focused on China’s overall development in areas such as the economy, society and culture, as well as its anti-poverty campaign.

Economic experts, scientists and sociologists from local universities and research institutes as well as government departments were invited to share their experience and give lectures.

During the program, all participants visited the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Based on the culture courses, they exchanged ideas with local officials and experts.

“I was very impressed with the comprehensive structure planning being undertaken to turn Lanzhou and Gansu as a whole into a major hub of China,” said Robert Love, a strategy and policy planner with Selwyn District Council, New Zealand, after his visit to the Lanzhou Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.

Philippe Dall’Agnol, a state attorney from Brazil, told Xinhua that China’s poverty alleviation efforts and means of increasing production were particularly worth studying, adding that when he returns to Brazil, he will continue to be a messenger of peace and a bridge of friendship, to actively promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

Since it was initiated in 2006, a total of 309 participants from 62 countries have graduated from the program, making it an important platform for international exchanges and cooperation.

Source: Xinhua

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28/07/2019

Chinese FM says BRICS cooperation a strategic choice, urges bigger BRICS role in world affairs

BRAZIL-RIO DE JANEIRO-CHINA-WANG YI-BRICS-MEETING

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd L) poses for a group photo with Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo (3rd L), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (1st L), South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor (2nd R) and India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 26, 2019. Wang Yi attended the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Rio de Janeiro. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 27 (Xinhua) — The rise of emerging markets and developing countries, represented by the BRICS countries, has bolstered a more multi-polar world, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

At the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Wang also said BRICS cooperation is not a band-aid solution for the five countries but a strategic choice that focuses on common and long-term development and harbors bright prospects.

The five countries are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Wang said no matter how the international landscape changes, the direction of the BRICS cooperation must not change. Faced with new challenges, the five countries should let their voices be heard, offer more solutions to pressing global issues and play a greater role in world affairs.

Wang pointed out that unilateralism undermines international rules and challenges the international rule of law, which exacerbates the instability and uncertainty of the world.

The BRICS countries must take the lead in maintaining multilateralism and safeguarding the global governance system with the UN as its core and under international law.

Furthermore, the bloc should safeguard the multilateral trading system represented by the WTO and protect the common interests and development space of emerging market and developing countries, he said.

The five countries together must continue to integrate the interests of other emerging market countries and developing countries through flexible and diverse platforms such as “BRICS Plus.”

At the meeting, the five foreign ministers all agreed to safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, defend multilateralism and free trade, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, strengthen global governance, and build a community with a shared future for humankind.

They agreed that regional hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and consultation and that BRICS cooperation should work to benefit the peoples of the five countries.

The foreign ministers also agreed to maintain vigilance on cybersecurity issues and expressed opposition to the use of cybersecurity to suppress the development of science and technology in other countries. They agreed to strive toward an open and non-discriminatory environment for the application of information technology.

The foreign ministers were tasked with preparing for the BRICS summit to be held in Brasilia in November.

Source: Xinhua

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28/07/2019

Latin America trade grows as China and US tussle for influence

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wraps up tour of Brazil and Chile, as Colombian president heads for Beijing
Ecuador president tells US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ‘smaller countries pay when the big ones fight’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is greeted by an honour guard as he arrives at the Itamaraty Palace for a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Ernesto Araujo on Thursday. Photo: AP

Latin American countries are caught in the middle of a geopolitical tug of war between Beijing and Washington as China boosts its ties in the region in a bid to counterbalance the effects of its trade war with the US.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi wraps up a tour of Latin America on Sunday which began last week in Brazil and ended with an official visit to Chile. He returns to Beijing on the same day Colombia’s President Ivan Duque Marquez arrives for a three-day state visit to China which will include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wang was in Brazil for the latest summit of foreign ministers from the BRICS countries – an association of emerging countries made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – as well as the third China-Brazil foreign ministers’ comprehensive strategic dialogue with Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo.

China has overtaken the US as Brazil’s largest trading partner, with Brazilian soybeans – one of the country’s biggest exports – and other agricultural products replacing American imports since the start of the US-China trade war a year ago.

Brazilian soybeans – one of the country’s biggest exports – and other farm products are being sold to China as a result of the trade war. Photo: Reuters

The growing importance of China to Brazil’s economy has created a difficult position for President Jair Bolsonaro, who accused Beijing of trying to buy Brazil during his election campaign, but changed tack on assuming office in January.

In March, Bolsonaro called China his country’s “main partner, politically as well as economically and commercially” and announced plans to travel to Beijing this year, a visit which was confirmed on Tuesday for late October.

China is now Latin America’s second largest trading partner with bilateral trade at US$307.4 billion, growing 18.9 per cent over the previous year, according to China’s ministry of commerce, in a relationship focused on commodity imports, including mining products like copper and energy, as well as soybeans and other agricultural goods.

While the US and China have tentatively agreed to resume talks in Shanghai next week, China and Latin American countries are likely to continue deepening their trade relations as production chains realign as a result of the trade war, according to Gustavo Oliveira, assistant professor of global and international studies at the University of California, Irvine.

“This means Chinese imports of Latin American agricultural and mineral commodities, and Latin American imports of Chinese manufactured products and hi-tech, might contribute to China’s ability to stand its ground against US pressure,” he said.

China in Latin America: partner or predator?

Oliveira said domestic contradictions in most Latin American countries complicated relations with China, as few leaders had the capacity to press or leverage China for much. “Unfortunately, therefore, most in this crop of Latin American leaders are basically placing themselves as junior partners or pawns in the geopolitical tug of war between the US and China.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the pressure on Latin American countries over their relationship with China during his four-day tour of the region last weekend, when he visited Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, and El Salvador.

In a joint interview with Pompeo during the visit, Ecuador’s new President Lenin Moreno defended the country’s China ties, and urged Washington and Beijing to resolve their conflicts for the benefit of other nations in the region.

“We hope that the US and China, the greatest powers in the world now, will find agreement easily because, unfortunately, when the big ones are discussing or fighting and have conflicts, the ones that are paying for all of that are the smaller countries,” he said.

“Now, when two elephants fight, the ones who lose are the insects who are of course being crushed by the elephants in the attempt to evade them.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) and Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno hold a joint press conference during Pompeo’s tour of Latin America on July 20. Photo: EPA-EFE

Pompeo blasted China’s role in the region during a previous tour of South America in April, when he singled out Beijing’s support for President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. Maduro is backed by Beijing, Russia and other allies, while the US and many European countries have supported opposition leader Juan Guaido as legitimate president since elections in January.

Speaking from Chile on that tour, Pompeo said Beijing’s calls for non-intervention in Venezuela were “hypocritical” and aimed at protecting Beijing’s investments in the country, as well as debts owed to China by Venezuela.

Pompeo also accused Beijing of “sowing discord” in the region through debt traps. “When China does business in places like Latin America, it often injects corrosive capital into the economic bloodstream, giving life to corruption and eroding good governance,” he said.

Professor Cui Shoujun of Renmin University in Beijing said Washington’s concerns about “debt trap diplomacy” in Latin America reflected concerns that China’s growing involvement in financing infrastructure and development projects would make the region more pro-China.

“China’s interests in Latin America go beyond raw materials extraction,” he said. “The biggest point of tension between the US and China in the region is perhaps that China presents an alternative model for development that is very different from the Western model.”

‘Mr Pompeo, you can stop’: China hits back over Latin America criticism

While the US was drumming up tensions about China across the world, Beijing was not openly retaliating but responding with investment and trade for global partners, said Kevin Gallagher, researcher on China-Latin America ties, and professor at Boston University.

“The US points fingers and makes angry speeches in the region as China cuts investment deals and helps address infrastructure needs,” he said.

“Latin American countries’ governments are rightly keeping their heads down on the broader geopolitical winds, and are getting down to business with their largest trading partner.”

Source: SCMP

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19/05/2019

Brazil’s vice-president Hamilton Mourao heads to China to mend relations

General will spend five days meeting top Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping
Mission seeks to patch up wounds caused by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-China rhetoric

Hamilton Mourao favours maximising engagement with China. Photo: EPA-EFE

Brazil’s vice-president is expected to land in Beijing on Sunday on a mission to patch up wounds caused by President Jair Bolsonaro’s lacerating anti-China rhetoric.

General Hamilton Mourao will spend five days in China rubbing shoulders with some of the country’s most powerful leaders, culminating in an audience with President Xi Jinping, in an effort to shore up the relationship between the two emerging market giants. Bolsonaro himself is due to visit later this year, while Xi is due to visit Brasilia in November for the BRICS summit.

China – Brazil’s most important trading partner for the past decade – remains a sensitive subject in the Bolsonaro administration. While Mourao and the other business-oriented members of government favour maximising engagement with the Asian giant, Bolsonaro and his more radical appointees view China with a high degree of suspicion, as a predatory economy that wishes not merely to invest in Brazil, but to own it.

“The Chinese can buy in Brazil, but they can’t buy Brazil,” the president said at a breakfast with journalists last month.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said last month that the “Chinese can buy in Brazil, but they can’t buy Brazil”. Photo: AFP

Still, in comparison with his pre-election criticism of China as “heartless”, Bolsonaro in office has dialled down his anti-Beijing sentiment. Mourao’s visit is part of an effort to reset that relationship.

“The Chinese understand that Mourao plays a central role in toning down Bolsonaro’s rhetoric,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a specialist on BRICS – an association of five major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – at the FGV business school. “They know that the Mourao-China relationship will be fundamental.”

Should China be worried about Bolsonaro’s bromance with Trump?

Speaking to reporters recently, Mourao recognised the need to balance the Bolsonaro administration’s desire to pivot towards the United States with practical considerations of China’s economic significance.

“The US are the champions of democracy and freedom and our government has left it very clear what this represents,” the vice-president said. “But on the other side we have to be sufficiently pragmatic to understand the importance of China for Brazil’s economic development.”

Chinese investment in Brazil reached almost US$134 billion between 2003 and 2018, Brazilian government figures showed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet the visiting Brazilain vice-president. Photo: AP

While the trade war between the US and China may offer Brazil some short-term gains, particularly for its agricultural sector, the downsides outweigh the benefits, according to Renata Amaral, a foreign trade analyst at Barral MJorge consultancy.

“In truth this war is no good for anyone,” she said.

Mourao said that Brazil was monitoring the situation “critically and cautiously”.

Why US-China trade war could be good for Brazil

From the Chinese perspective, Beijing is looking for Brazil’s formal support for its “Belt and Road Initiative” – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature global infrastructure megaproject. Asked whether Brazil might sign up to the programme, Mourao said that any agreement would have to be approved by Bolsonaro in the second half of the year.

After trips to the Great Wall of China and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Mourao will meet Xi, in a clear sign of Brazil’s importance to China. “The visit of vice-president Mourao will reinforce mutual political confidence, deepen our friendly cooperation and add new dimensions to our strategic partnership,” according to Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

With Beijing both uncertain about the direction of Brazilian foreign policy under Bolsonaro and eager to strike deals on infrastructure and food security, it makes sense for the Chinese to roll out the red-carpet for Mourao, according to Hussein Kalout, a specialist in foreign policy and a researcher at Harvard.

China trade vs economic growth: the dilemma for Brazil’s president

While the federal government remains ambivalent about its relationship with China, some of Brazil’s powerful state governors are seeking to develop their own relationship with the Asian country. One of them is Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior, the governor of the southern state of Parana, who travelled to China recently to discuss agriculture and railroad projects.

“We’re open to talk with any country that wants to and understands that the state of Parana is the best to place to invest in Brazil,” the governor said in an interview, adding that his actions did not conflict with the federal government’s stance towards Beijing.

But in a sign of the domestic pressure Bolsonaro is under not to abandon entirely his sceptical attitude to China, Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Braganca, the vice-president of the lower house’s foreign affairs committee and a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s own party, said the government should set limits to the partnership.

“It’s good to talk to China, but it depends what is being discussed,” he said. “For example, the 5G network set up by China is dangerous because it will give the Chinese more information about Brazilian citizens than the Brazilian government.”

Source: SCMP

Posted in anti-China, Brasilia, Brazil, Brazilian President, BRICS summit, Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior, China alert, FGV business school, Geng Shuang, Great Wall of China, Hamilton Mourao, India alert, Jair Bolsonaro, mend, Parana, President Xi Jinping, relations, rhetoric, Russia, Shanghai Stock Exchange, South Africa, Uncategorized, Vice President | Leave a Comment »

08/05/2019

India election 2019: How sugar influences the world’s biggest vote

An Indian vendor sits among sugarcane kept at the main wholesale market ahead of celebrations surrounding the festival of Pongal in Bangalore, — Image caption Some 30 million farmers are engaged in cane farming in India

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a recent election meeting in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, he was compelled to make a promise relating to sugar, a diet staple.

Farmers who grow cane in the politically crucial state ruled by Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were angry because sugar mills had not paid their dues in time. They held protests and blocked railway tracks. “I know there are cane dues. I will make sure every penny of yours will be paid,” Mr Modi told the audience.

India’s sugar mills are bleeding money and collectively owe billions of dollars to 50 million cane farmers, many of whom haven’t been paid for nearly a year. Niti Ayog, a government think tank, says the arrears have reached “alarming” levels. More than 12 million tonnes of unsold sugar have piled up in factories. There is little incentive to export more as India’s sugar price is higher than the international price.

Sugar is serious business in India. Around 525 mills produced more than 30 million tonnes of sugar in the last crushing season, which lasted from October to April. This makes it the world’s largest producer, unseating Brazil. A large number of mills are run by cooperatives where farmers own shares proportional to the land they own and pledge their produce to the mill.

An Indian worker is pictured next to a sugarcane processing unit at the Triveni sugar refining factory in Sabitgarh village, in Bulandshahr district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. — Image captionIndia is the world’s largest producer of sugar

That’s not all. Some 50 million farmers, tightly concentrated geographically, are engaged in cane farming. Millions more work in the mills and farms and are engaged in transportation of cane.

As with much of India’s politics, cane growers appear to be a reliable “vote bank”. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, which together produce 60% of the country’s sugar, send 128 MPs to the parliament. The price of cane can swing votes in more than 150 of the 545 seats in the ongoing general election, according to one estimate. Sugar is possibly the “most politicised crop in the world”, says Shekhar Gaikwad, the sugar commissioner of Maharashtra.

India votes 2019

Indians are also voracious consumers of sugar. The bulk of the supply goes into making sweets, confectionary and fizzy drinks that are beginning to contribute to a rising obesity problem, like elsewhere in the world. “The world’s sweet tooth continues to rely on cane sugar, much as it did four centuries ago,” says James Walvin, author of How Sugar Corrupted the World.

Indian sugarcane farmers shout slogans during a protest in New Delhi on December 4,2012 — Image caption Cane farmers have held protests, demanding higher crop prices

On the face of it, cane growers and owners of sugar mills should be happy.

The government sets cane and sugar prices, allocates production and export quotas, and hands out ample subsidies. State-run banks give crop loans to farmers and production loans to mills. When mills run out of cash, public funds are used to bail them out. “I earn around 7,000 rupees ($100; £76) from growing sugar every month. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s an assured income,” says Sanjay Anna Kole, a fourth-generation, 10-acre cane farm owner in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.

Is sugar really bad for you?

But protectionism may be yielding diminishing returns. Generous price support for the crop means the price at which mils buy cane has outstripped the price at which they sell sugar. Among large producers – Thailand, Brazil and Australia – India pays the highest cane price to farmers. It also spends more than Brazil, for example, in producing sugar.

Image captionFarmer Sanjay Anna Kole says cane farming provides an ‘assured income’

The involvement of politicians may not be helping matters. Since the inception of the first mills in the 1950s, politicians have owned or gained control of them by winning mill co-operative elections. Almost half a dozen ministers in Maharashtra, India’s second-biggest cane growing state, own sugar mills.

A study on the links between politicians and sugar mills by Sandip Sukhtankar, associate professor of economics at University of Virginia, found that 101 of the 183 mills – for which data was available – in Maharashtra had chairmen who competed for state or national elections between 1993 and 2005.

He also found that cane prices paid by “politically controlled” mills fell during election years, and that this was not entirely due to loss of productivity.

These mills have also been blamed for holding on to arrears and releasing them before elections to win over voters; and political parties have been accused of using money from the mills to finance campaigns. “One would think that perhaps political parties that don’t benefit from links to sugar might have incentives to reform the sector, but we have seen parties everywhere want a piece of the action,” says Dr Sukhtankar. “There are resources in the sugar industry to be extracted for political purposes.”

Sugar stocked in Maharashtra factory — Image caption Sugar stocks have piled up in factories across India

Whatever the case, India’s world-beating crop is mired in crisis. The farmers and the mills grumble that they aren’t getting a fair price for their crop and sugar respectively. “It looks like a sunset industry for me. There’s no future in cane until the government completely overhauls farm policies,” Suresh Mahadev Gatage, an organic cane-grower in Kolhapur, told me.

The unrest among the farmers is worrying. In January, several thousand angry cane farmers descended on Shekhar Gaikwad’s office in the city of Pune, demanding the mills pay their dues in time. The negotiations lasted 13 hours.

One of the farmers’ demands was to arrest a state minister, who was heading three mills in the state, and had defaulted on his cane dues. When negotiations ended way past midnight, authorities issued orders to seize sugar from the offending mills and sell it in retail. In India’s lumbering bureaucracy, that took another eight hours because 500 copies of the orders had to be printed. “My office is pelted by stones every other day by irate farmers,” says Mr Gaikwad.

Image caption Cane grower Suresh Mahadev Gatage says there is ‘no future in cane’

Meanwhile, what is completely forgotten is how much sugar has hurt India’s ecology. More than 60% of the water available for farming in India is consumed by rice and sugar, two crops that occupy 24% of the cultivable area. Experts say crop prices should begin to reflect the scarcity and economic value of water.

But before that, as Raju Shetti, MP and a prominent leader of sugarcane farmers, says, price controls should be eased and bulk corporate buyers like soft drink companies and pharmaceuticals should pay more for sugar.

“We need differential pricing for sugar. Cheap sugar should be only provided to people who can’t afford it. The rest should pay a higher price,” he told me.

“Otherwise, the industry will collapse, and farmers will die. Even politicians will not be able to save it.”

Source: The BBC

Posted in Australia, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Brazil, cane growers, government think tank, How Sugar Corrupted the World, James Walvin, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, Niti Ayog, Pune, Sandip Sukhtankar, Shekhar Gaikwad, Sugar, sugar commissioner, Thailand, University of Virginia | Leave a Comment »

23/04/2019

How China’s ban on plastic waste imports became an ‘earthquake’ that threw recycling efforts into turmoil

When recycling businesses gravitated to Malaysia, a black economy went with them
Some countries treat China’s ban as an opportunity and have been quick to adapt

For years, China was the world’s leading destination for recyclable rubbish, but a ban on some imports has left nations scrambling to find dumping grounds for growing piles of waste. Photo: AFP

From grubby packaging that engulfs small Southeast Asian communities to waste that piles up in plants from the US to Australia, China’s ban on accepting the world’s used plastic has thrown recycling efforts into turmoil.

For many years, China took the bulk of scrap plastic from around the world, processing much of it into a higher quality material that could be used by manufacturers.

But, at the start of 2018, it closed its doors to almost all foreign plastic waste, as well as many other recyclables, in an effort to protect its environment and air quality, leaving developed nations struggling to find places to send their waste.

“It was like an earthquake,” Arnaud Brunet, director general of Brussels-based industry group The Bureau of International Recycling, said.

“China was the biggest market for recyclables. It created a major shock in the global market.”

Instead, plastic was redirected in huge quantities to Southeast Asia, where Chinese recyclers have shifted.

With a large Chinese-speaking minority, Malaysia was a top choice for Chinese recyclers looking to relocate, and official data showed plastic imports tripled from 2016 levels to 870,000 tonnes last year.

China to collect applications for scrap metal import licences from next month, trade group says

In the small town of Jenjarom, close to Kuala Lumpur, plastic processing plants appeared in large numbers, pumping out noxious fumes around the clock.

Huge mounds of plastic waste, dumped in the open, piled up as recyclers struggled to cope with the influx of packaging from everyday goods, such as foods and laundry detergents, from as far afield as Germany, the US, and Brazil.

Residents soon noticed the acrid stench over the town – the kind of odour that is usual in processing plastic, but environmental campaigners believed some of the fumes also came from the incineration of plastic waste that was too low quality to recycle.

“People were attacked by toxic fumes, waking them up at night. Many were coughing a lot,” resident Pua Lay Peng said.

“I could not sleep, I could not rest, I always felt fatigued,” the 47-year-old added.

Representatives of an environmentalist NGO inspect an abandoned plastic waste factory in Jenjarom, outside Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Photo: AFP

Pua and other community members began investigating and, by mid-2018, had located about 40 processing plants, many of which appeared to be operating without proper permits.

Initial complaints to authorities went nowhere but they kept up pressure, and eventually the government took action. Authorities started closing down illegal factories in Jenjarom, and announced a nationwide temporary freeze on plastic import permits.

Thirty-three factories were closed down, although activists believed many had quietly moved elsewhere in the country. Residents said air quality had improved but some plastic dumps remained.

Chinese recycling expert breeds thousands of flies to turn kitchen waste into cash

In Australia, Europe and the US, many of those collecting plastic and other recyclables were left scrambling to find new places to send it.

They faced higher costs to have it processed by recyclers at home and in some cases resorted to sending it to landfill sites as the scrap piled up so quickly.

“Twelve months on, we are still feeling the effects but we have not moved to the solutions yet,” said Garth Lamb, president of industry body Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia.

Some have been quicker to adapt to the new environment, such as some local authority-run centres that collect recyclables in Adelaide, South Australia.

The centres used to send nearly everything – ranging from plastic to paper and glass – to China but now 80 per cent is processed by local companies, with most of the rest shipped to India.

Rubbish is sifted and sorted at Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority’s recycling site at Edinburgh, a northern suburb of the city of Adelaide. Photo: AFP

“We moved quickly and looked to domestic markets,” Adam Faulkner, chief executive of the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority, said.

“We’ve found that by supporting local manufacturers, we’ve been able to get back to pre-China ban prices.”

In mainland China, imports of plastic waste dropped from 600,000 tonnes per month in 2016 to about 30,000 a month in 2018, according to data cited in a recent report from Greenpeace and environmental NGO Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.

Once bustling centres of recycling were abandoned as firms shifted to Southeast Asia.

How China’s plastic waste ban has left Japan to deal with mountains of trash

On a visit to the southern town of Xingtan last year, Chen Liwen, founder of environmental NGO China Zero Waste Alliance, found the recycling industry had disappeared.

“The plastic recyclers were gone – there were ‘for rent’ signs plastered on factory doors and even recruitment signs calling for experienced recyclers to move to Vietnam,” she said.

Southeast Asian nations affected early by the China ban – as well as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were hit hard – have taken steps to limit plastic imports, but the waste has simply been redirected to other countries without restrictions, such as Indonesia and Turkey, the Greenpeace report said.

With only an estimated nine per cent of plastics ever produced recycled, campaigners said the only long-term solution to the plastic waste crisis was for companies to make less and consumers to use less.

Greenpeace campaigner Kate Lin said: “The only solution to plastic pollution is producing less plastic.”

Source: SCMP

Posted in Adam Faulkner, Adelaide, Arnaud Brunet, Australia, biggest market for recyclables, Brazil, Brussels-based industry group, Bureau of International Recycling, Chen Liwen, Chief Executive, China alert, China Zero Waste Alliance, China’s ban on plastic waste imports, director-general, earthquake, environmental ngo, Europe, founder, Garth Lamb, Germany, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Greenpeace, Greenpeace campaigner, Japan, Jenjarom, Kate Lin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mainland China, Malaysia, Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority, president of industry body, Pua Lay Peng, recycling efforts, South Australia, Southeast Asian, Thailand, turmoil, Uncategorized, US, Vietnam, Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia, Xingtan | Leave a Comment »

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