Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva started a four-day visit to China starting on the 11th.

(AFP)

[Instant News/Comprehensive Report] Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva started a 4-day visit to China starting on the 11th. Lula da Silva bluntly stated that the purpose of this visit is to "attract Chinese investment in Brazil" .

In addition, the "Belt and Road" initiative, an infrastructure investment plan, is also the core of the high-level diplomatic negotiations between the two countries, and China is putting more pressure on Brazil to join the "New Silk Road" this time than before.

According to comprehensive foreign media reports, Lula, who has arrived in Shanghai, China, will attend the swearing-in ceremony of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff as the president of the BRICS Bank "New Development Bank" (NDB) on the 13th. On the 14th, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

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The report pointed out that the Chinese government has repeatedly signaled that Brazil should join the "Belt and Road" initiative, also known as the "New Silk Road", and this time they put more pressure on Brazil, because if Brazil joins, it will be a huge political gain for China. , at least 20 Latin American countries have joined the initiative, and Argentina signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government last April.

However, Brazil has not yet decided whether to mention the Belt and Road Initiative in the joint statement issued by Lula on the 14th.

Opinions within the Brazilian government on whether to join the Belt and Road Initiative are divided. A group led by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira believes that Brazil does not need to join because Brazil is already a major target of Chinese international investment.

Former Brazilian foreign minister and special adviser to Lula, Celso Amorim, and Agriculture and Livestock Minister Carlos Fávaro defended Brazil's participation in the initiative to boost Brazil's infrastructure plans.

Karin Vazquez, director of the Center for BRICS Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said in an interview that Brazil's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative may receive $40 billion in Chinese investment funds, but the slowing Chinese economy has made the conditions for financing less favorable than in the past. attraction.

He also analyzed, "If Lula announces that Brazil joins the Belt and Road Initiative during his visit, it will be a big deal for the United States because it will provide new avenues for China's influence and loans in Brazil."

Hua Yiqing believes that if Brazil signals an alliance with China without sending a similar signal to the "Partnership for Economic Prosperity in the Americas" launched by US President Joe Biden in 2022, it may be interpreted as biased towards China.

At present, the United States and China are in a tense moment of political and economic competition. The Biden administration has also publicly expressed concerns about the deepening of relations between China and Brazil.

In addition, although the Belt and Road Initiative is claimed by the Chinese government to bring about amazing economic and economic development, it has brought huge debt traps to many participating countries in the process of promotion.

For example, in 2018, the Sri Lankan government handed over control of the southern deep-water port to China because it failed to repay its debts to China.