Archive for ‘Jair Bolsonaro’

26/01/2020

India, Brazil sign 15 accords to deepen ties across range of sectors

(Reuters) – India and Brazil have signed 15 accords aimed at forging closer ties between the two emerging market giants across a range of sectors, especially defence, both countries’ leaders tweeted on Saturday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took to social media to hail the closer cooperation and agreements struck during Bolsonaro’s official visit to India.

“Several agreements signed in ​​infrastructure, justice, science and technology, agriculture, oil exploration, mining, health, culture and tourism,” Bolsonaro tweeted, adding: “The world’s confidence in Brazil is back!”

For his part, Modi tweeted: “India and Brazil are focussing on expanding cooperation in the defence sector,” adding that the two countries share “immense synergies” on several key issues such as the environment and fighting terrorism.

Separately, Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araujo tweeted that the 15 accords signed by the two countries represent a move “against the structures of globalist thought”.

“Brazil is rising to be a great among the greats,” he tweeted.

Source: Reuters

14/11/2019

China ready to achieve common prosperity with Brazil: Xi

BRAZIL-BRASILIA-XI JINPING-BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT-TALKS

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BRASILIA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday China is fully confident in China-Brazil cooperation and stands ready to achieve common prosperity with Brazil.

Xi made the remarks when meeting here with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Noting that Bolsonaro paid a successful state visit to China in October, Xi said the consensus reached by the two sides is being actively implemented.

At the recently concluded second China International Import Expo (CIIE), the transaction volume of Brazilian businesses grew 3.6 times compared with that at the first CIIE last year, Xi said, calling the results gratifying.

As the largest emerging-market country in the eastern and western hemispheres, respectively, Xi said, China and Brazil share broad common interests.

China is optimistic about Brazil’s development prospects and fully confident in bilateral cooperation, Xi said, adding that China stands ready to share development experience and gains with Brazil, so as to achieve common prosperity.

Xi expressed willingness to work with Bolsonaro to properly grasp and guide the direction of the development of China-Brazil relations.

China and Brazil are both major countries and the two sides should maintain strategic focus, adhere to mutual respect, treat each other as equals, strengthen exchanges and cement mutual trust, Xi stressed.

He urged both sides to open markets to each other and explore ways to establish long-term, stable and direct supply channels for basic products, including agricultural products, iron ore and crude oil.

China supports its enterprises to actively participate in Brazil’s infrastructure construction to promote connectivity, Xi said.

Xi called on both sides to advance cooperation in areas such as digital economy, next-generation communications, material science and biotechnology, wishing another successful launch of the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite in the near future, and urging the two sides to jointly promote the follow-up cooperation.

Xi also urged both sides to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and facilitate personnel exchanges.

China supports the Brazilian government’s efforts to combat the disaster in the Amazon rainforest and believes that Brazil is capable of overcoming the disaster, Xi said.

Both sides should work together to promote all-round exchanges and cooperation between China and Latin American countries, uphold multilateralism, build an open world economy, and safeguard the legitimate development rights and interests of emerging markets, Xi said.

The Chinese president added that China supports Brazil in hosting the upcoming BRICS summit and stands ready to work with all parties to make the summitry a success.

For his part, Bolsonaro said he has instructed relevant government departments to implement as soon as possible the consensus reached during his state visit to China, calling that visit a success.

Noting that China is a significant major country and Brazil’s largest trading partner, Bolsonaro said the Brazilian people hold admiration, respect and friendly feelings toward the Chinese people, and Brazil-China cooperation boasts increasing significance to Brazil’s future development.

Economies of Brazil and China are highly complementary and the areas of cooperation continue to expand, Bolsonaro said, adding that his country welcomes Chinese investment to Brazil and stronger cooperation in infrastructure construction, iron ore, and the energy sector, including oil and gas.

The Brazilian side values the important opportunities brought about by China’s opening-up of its market, he said, expressing the hope to expand bilateral trade and promote export of more Brazilian agricultural products to China.

His country is also willing to offer favorable conditions for Chinese enterprises and products to enter Brazil, he said, adding that Brazil stands ready to facilitate personnel exchanges and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Bolsonaro thanked China for supporting Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon rainforest issue and expressed his willingness to cooperate with China on biodiversity conservation.

He also thanked China for supporting Brazil in hosting the BRICS summit, adding that Brazil is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with other parties for a summit that produces positive outcomes.

Brazil is grateful for China’s trust and friendship, said Bolsonaro, adding that from a long-term perspective, Brazil attaches importance to strengthening cooperation with China in a wide range of areas, so as to deepen their traditional friendship and benefit the two peoples.

After the meeting, the two heads of state jointly met the press and witnessed the exchange of a number of documents on bilateral cooperation.

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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