Beijing is Brazil’s biggest trading partner. Its exports to China reached more than $94 billion last year, according to the United Nations Comtrade Database
Brazil’s president will begin a five-day trip to China on Saturday, Beijing announced, ahead of a gathering of Latin American leaders in the country next week.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s state visit comes at the invitation of counterpart President Xi Jinping and will last until Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
Since returning to power in early 2023, Lula has sought to improve ties with both China and the United States.
Beijing is Brazil’s biggest trading partner. Its exports to China reached more than $94 billion last year, according to the United Nations Comtrade Database.
The South American agricultural power sends mainly soybeans and other primary commodities to China, while the Asian giant sells semiconductors, telephones, vehicles and medicines to Brazil.
The two presidents are expected to attend next week’s summit between China and the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
China is seeking to replace the United States as the main political and economic external influence in Latin America, where leaders have urged a united front against President Donald Trump’s global tariff blitz.
Two-thirds of Latin American countries have joined Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure program, and China has surpassed the United States as the biggest trading partner of Brazil, Peru and Chile, among others.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed that China’s resolute and strong countermeasures against “reciprocal tariffs” are admirable. China’s righteous actions have received widespread support, and the irresponsible unilateral acts of certain country should be collectively resisted. Brazil is willing to work with China to promote greater success of the BRICS mechanism, gather the strength of multilateralism, advocate for free trade, defend international rules, maintain world peace, achieve common development, and never allow power to override international principles.
Wang Yi conveyed President Xi Jinping’s cordial greetings to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stating that the two heads of state jointly announced the building of a China-Brazil community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet, which has charted the course and drawn the blueprint for the development of China-Brazil relations. President Lula’s political decision to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Brazil demonstrates strategic foresight and fully aligns with the long-term and fundamental interests of the Brazilian people. China is willing to work with Brazil to deliver on the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state and to encourage the building of a China-Brazil community with a shared future to achieve more new results.
Meanwhile, Lula da Silva offered Russian President Vladimir Putin wide-ranging cooperation on nuclear energy, defense and space during his first visit to Moscow in 15 years, the Kremlin said Friday.
Lula was among more than two dozen foreign leaders who attended the Victory Day military parade on Red Square, which the Kremlin promoted as a sign of continued international support more than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“My visit today is aimed at strengthening the building of our strategic partnership,” Lula told Putin in the Kremlin, according to a Russian-language readout.
He expressed “great interest” in Russia’s small nuclear reactors and said his delegation had prepared bilateral memoranda on cooperation in energy, science and technology.
“We’re interested in discussing military, space, scientific, economic, educational and above all energy,” Lula said.
The Brazilian leader also criticized Donald Trump’s global tariff policies for undermining free trade, multilateralism and respect between states. Putin, in turn, praised Brazil as one of Russia’s biggest food suppliers and noted that Russia is Brazil’s top oil and fertilizer exporter.
Lula’s visit came after he declined an invitation to travel to Russia in June 2023. Putin on Friday attributed that snub to Lula’s “work commitments.” Brazil is a founding member of the BRICS group of emerging economies, which also includes Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Lula has attempted to position himself as a mediator in the war, launching a group of nations aiming to broker a negotiated peace. He faced backlash in 2022 for saying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “as responsible” for the war as Putin.
