Archive for ‘Hamilton Mourao’

24/05/2019

Chinese vice president holds talks with Brazilian vice president

CHINA-BEIJING-WANG QISHAN-BRAZIL-VP-TALKS-COSBAN-MEETING (CN)

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan and Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao hold talks and co-chair the fifth meeting of the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (COSBAN) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) — Chinese vice president Wang Qishan on Thursday held talks with Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao in Beijing. They also co-chaired the fifth meeting of the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (COSBAN).

The Chinese-Brazilian ties have been developing steadily ever since the two countries established diplomatic ties 45 years ago, said Wang, adding that their bilateral relationship has become mature and stable relationship.

The two sides maintain close communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, and have effectively promoted the solidarity and cooperation between developing and emerging market countries, Wang said.

He noted that both sides are committed to promoting development through structural reforms and opening up, and said that China was ready to work with the Brazilian side to make good use of the COSBAN to jointly resist the uncertainty of the external environment, make greater contributions to the recovery of global economy, and create a new era of higher-level, broader areas and more dynamic bilateral relations.

Mourao said Brazil and China respected each other and shared profound traditional friendship. The Brazilian new government attaches great importance to the comprehensive strategic partnership with China and is willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the two countries as well as to promote the integration of the Belt and Road Initiative with Brazil’s development strategy.

Brazil is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in the multilateral arena, maintain the stability of the international system, and make contributions to promote world peace and prosperity, he said.

The two sides agreed to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, promote trade facilitation, optimize trade structure and promote high-quality growth of bilateral trade, according to a news briefing.

The two sides attach great importance to dovetailing the Belt and Road Initiative with Brazil’s development strategy including the investment partnership projects.

The two sides agreed to continue to cooperate closely under multilateral organizations and frameworks such as the United Nations, the BRICS countries and the World Trade Organization (WTO), jointly maintain multilateralism and free trade, improve global economic governance, and safeguard the multilateral trading system with the WTO as the core to build an open world economy, said the news briefing.

Source: Xinhua

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
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
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.”

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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
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

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