As is his custom when making a state visit to another country, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward his ideas for strengthening China’s relations with Brazil in an major article published in Brazil’s major daily, Folha de São Paulo Nov. 17, on the day he arrived, titled “A Friendship Spanning Vast Oceans: A Voyage toward a Brighter Shared Future.” President Xi is in Brazil to participate in the two-day G20 Summit which started today in Rio de Janeiro, after which he will travel to Brasilia for a full-day state visit on Nov. 20. That will naturally include meetings with his host President Lula and team, the signing of many economic agreements, a joint press conference with the Brazilian President, and a grand gala dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brazil-China diplomatic relations.
“Our relationship has always been a forerunner in the relations between China and fellow developing nations,” establishing “a model for major developing countries to develop win-win cooperation and pursue a shared future,” President Xi emphasized in his article. We “value mutual respect and treat each other as equals,” and thereby our relationship has “withstood the test of a changing international landscape,” boosting our respective development while contributing to world peace and stability. He singled out the “Six-Point Common Understanding on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” put forward by their two countries last May as exemplary of how China and Brazil, “embracing our roles and responsibilities as major countries, have contributed to a multipolar world,” and world peace.
As for the potential to develop their economic relations, Xi twice spoke of their mutual interest in developing greater economic “synergy,” carefully choosing the word adopted by the Lula government to describe its intention to cooperate with China on major domestic and regional economic development projects, without Brazil officially joining China in its Belt and Road Initiative. Xi’s article provided hints of how this could develop:
