With the G20 Summit to be held in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, observers are expecting China and Brazil — two major developing countries enjoying many shared or similar views on governance — to further galvanize the Global South to show unity and secure global stability and growth.
China and Brazil are the largest developing countries in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and both their combined populations and economic outputs exceed one-fifth of the world’s total.
As President Xi Jinping undertakes his five-day tour to Brazil, Chinese officials have noted that the two countries’ economies are highly complementary and their development strategies are compatible with one another.
On Aug 15, Xi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties.
In his message, Xi said China is willing to “continuously strengthen the synergy of development strategies between the two countries and deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields”.
Since 2009, China has been Brazil’s largest trade partner for 15 consecutive years. Brazil is China’s ninth-largest trade partner.
Brazil is also the first Latin American country whose annual trade volume with China exceeds $100 billion.
Annual bilateral trade volume registered $181.53 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
As of May this year, China’s cumulative investment in Brazil has exceeded $70 billion, covering a wide range of areas such as oil and gas, electricity, agriculture, infrastructure, communications, and science and technology, according to the Chinese Embassy in Brazil.
Zhu Qingqiao, Chinese ambassador to Brazil, said the two countries have consistently upheld mutual respect, treating each other on an equal footing and with win-win cooperation over the past 50 years, and the development of relations “is a role model for steadfastly practicing the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”.
“Today’s China-Brazil ties have transcended the bilateral realm and are of great significance to advancing solidarity and cooperation among the Global South and to promoting world peace, stability and development,” he said in an article in July.
Analysts noted that the two sides have worked effectively on the international stage to defend the common interests of developing countries and safeguard international justice, and have become major stabilizers in a volatile world.
China and Brazil jointly issued a six-point consensus in May as a key proposal for the political settlement of the lingering Ukraine crisis.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian confirmed in September that the consensus had “received positive feedback from more than 110 countries, and reflects the widespread aspiration of the international community”.
On Sept 27, dignitaries of the two countries and over a dozen other Global South countries launched the group of Friends for Peace on the Ukraine crisis, at a meeting in New York.
“We should promote early deescalation to pave the way for political settlement,” Xi said in his speech at the BRICS Plus leaders’ dialogue in Kazan, Russia, last month. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
