Xi Jinping and Lula Da Silva Meeting Advances Cause of World Peace
April 14, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Today’s meeting between the Presidents of China and Brazil, the two biggest developing countries in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, as President Xi Jinping noted, has a significance beyond their bilateral agreements, as useful and important as the latter are.
Both leaders spoke of the importance of their relations for overall global peace. According to Xinhua, Xi spoke of “the overarching, strategic and global influence of China-Brazil relations,” as both nations cooperate to bring about “peace, stability and prosperity in their regions and around the world.” Likewise, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called China “an indispensable force in global politics, economy and trade, science and technology, [which] plays a vital role in promoting world peace and development,” and said that “Brazil is committed to building closer relations with China from the strategic perspective of shaping a just and equitable international order.”
Cooperation in various multinational fora were stressed, from the G20 and BRICS, to the China-CELAC Forum for the integration of Ibero-America, with work on bringing about fair international development and finance included. “Both parties agreed that the future of all countries is closely intertwined, and that it is necessary to promote tolerance, coexistence, mutual learning and exchange between different civilizations,” their Joint Statement asserts.
Not everything which had been on the table was achieved, but the relationship between the two countries advanced significantly, in defiance of the crazed Western drive to vilify and isolate China.
The two leaders discussed how to help bring about an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, largely in their private meeting. Brazil’s UOL news service had reported that top diplomats from both countries had been working on a separate joint statement on peace, with discussions back-and-forth on the wording. Ultimately, what was issued was the following number 9 in their 49-point Joint Communiqué:
“Both parties stated that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way out of the crisis in Ukraine and that all efforts leading to a peaceful solution to the crisis must be encouraged and supported. Brazil received in a positive way the proposal by China that offers reflections conducive to the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis. China received in a positive way the efforts by Brazil in favor of peace. The parties made an appeal for more countries to play a constructive role in the promotion of a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine. The parties decided to keep in contact on this matter.”
No MOU on Brazil joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative came out of this meeting, but a statement in the Joint Declaration explicitly leaves it on the table. The brawl within the Brazilian government before Lula’s trip over whether it should finally join was quite public, and there is reason to believe that Brazil had been subjected to threats of financial warfare if it joined.
The upshot is in number 13 in the Joint Declaration, that “Brazil and China have expressed an interest in examining synergies between Brazil’s development policies and investment programs, including in South American integration efforts, and China’s development policies and international initiatives, including the ‘Belt and Road Initiative.’ ”
Otherwise, 15 bilateral commercial and partnership agreements were signed, altogether worth $10 billion, according to reports, while 20 new business agreements were signed between Brazilian and Chinese companies, in addition to 20 others signed by Brazilian businessmen already in China in March, when Lula had to postpone his scheduled visit due to pneumonia.
