Xi, Lula elevate Sino-Brazil ties during state visit to Brasilia

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday they raised the status of their country's global strategic partnership during a state visit as part of a regional tour demonstrating the growing diplomatic influence from Beijing.

Both Xi and Lula said China-Brazil relations have become a community with a shared future for a fairer world and a sustainable planet, echoing a key slogan of the Chinese president during a news conference at the presidential residence.

They also agreed to find synergies between China's Belt and Road Initiative and Brazilian development programs, after Lula refused to formally include Brazil in China's global infrastructure initiative.

The leaders signed nearly 40 cooperation agreements to strengthen ties between the two economies with more than $150 billion in bilateral trade, Lula said.

This is another historic moment in the development of China-Brazil relations, Xi said, adding that China is ready to make them golden partners.

Xi uses the term Community of Shared Destiny to formalize what Beijing sees as a positive and far-reaching bilateral relationship with a country sharing geopolitical and economic interests.

China used the slogan last year to describe its ties with countries like Vietnam and Serbia.

The state visit to Brasilia comes after two summits hosted by Xi in a week: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, then the Group of 20 major economies in Rio de Janeiro.

While Xi played a central role at both summits, US President Joe Biden arrived like a lame duck with just two months left in the White House and little room for lasting commitments, while his successor Donald Trump promises a total overhaul of his foreign policy.

A group portrait from the first day of the G20 summit captured the moment, with Xi in the foreground, alongside the presidents of Brazil, India and South Africa, China's partners in the group of the major developing countries BRICS and the three consecutive hosts of the G20 from 2023 until 2025.

Biden missed that photo opportunity for logistical reasons, the White House said.

With Biden diminished and Trump opposed at multilateral forums, diplomats and foreign policy experts said Xi's charm offensive was filling a void in an unstable world order.

China's parallel meetings with Western powers amid trade and geopolitical tensions, from the United States and Britain to France and Germany, have shown a conciliatory shift by Beijing ahead of four years even more difficult facing Trump, said Li Xing, professor at the Guangdong Institute for Internationalization. Strategies

China's strategy is clear, its posture is to let go of past resentment, Li said. This is undoubtedly an adjustment, and all because the G20 summit in this year is in a period of transition following the American elections.

Behind the scenes, several diplomats who participated in previous G20 summits have noticed a shift in China's position, less focused on its own narrow interests and more proactive in forging a broader consensus.

China is much more participatory and constructive, said a Brazilian diplomat, who requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

A European diplomat noted that Chinese peers have helped build consensus this year on several fronts, including on topics such as women's rights, on which they have not traditionally been active. It looks like a deliberate decision to occupy a multilateral forum that Trump risks neglecting, the diplomat added.

A place left unoccupied will be occupied by another, declared the European diplomat. Apparently, China wants to occupy more than what it has so far.