Over the course of May 12 and 13, Presidents Xi Jinping (China) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) dined privately at Xi’s residence in Beijing; addressed the Fourth China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations) Ministerial Meeting; presided over the signing of at least 20 bilateral agreements between their nations; made short statements at a joint press conference; and issued two joint statements, one on strengthening the China-Brazil community with a shared future, the other expressing their support for direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine and their commitment to continue their international coordination of efforts to help bring about a peaceful resolution to that conflict.
When they addressed the press, President Xi stated that Chinese-Brazilian friendship has “a very solid foundation”; that being, that the two leaders and nations “are going to remain faithful to our initial aspiration to assume responsibility for human progress and global development.”
President Lula agreed that relations between the two nations have never been so close—or so necessary, as he added. “The Community for a Shared Future for a More Just World and a More Sustainable Planet, which we established last November, is an alternative to ideological rivalries…. China and Brazil are determined to unite our voices against unilateralism and protectionism” in the fragmented and unpredictable world of today. We will meet again at the BRICS summit in July in Brazil, he noted. “The BRICS will increasingly become a fundamental space for coordination between the Global South, and the construction of a fairer and more effective multipolar order.”
