China: Lula and Xi leave the peace club in second place – 04/14/2023 – World

Two of the themes that most mobilized attention in the preparations for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) trip to China ended up receiving superficial mention in the joint statement released this Friday (14), five hours after the end of the meeting between the PT and leader Xi Jinping.

From the eventual Brazilian adhesion to the so-called “New Silk Road”, an ambitious Chinese program of investment in infrastructure around the world, there remained a stretch that keeps pending one of the loose ends of Lula’s trip to the Asian country.

“Brazil and China have expressed interest in examining synergies between Brazil’s development policies and investment programs, including in South American integration efforts, and China’s development policies and international initiatives, including the Belt and Road Initiative “, says the statement.

Entry into the BRI (the abbreviation for the Belt and Road) was the subject of a campaign in China’s state media, which sought to link greater investment in Brazil, as Lula wanted, to membership. The formal entry concerned US officials, fearful of the expansion of Chinese influence in Latin America, where the BRI has already reached 21 countries.

The proposal for a “peace club” to end the Ukrainian War —a forum for countries that, in the view of the Brazilian government, are not aligned with either side of the conflict—did not register any progress either.

“Brazil positively received the Chinese proposal that offers reflections conducive to the search for a peaceful way out of the crisis. China positively received Brazil’s efforts in favor of peace. The parties called for more countries to play a constructive role in promoting the solution crisis in Ukraine. The parties decided to maintain contacts on the matter.”

The Brazilian effort to create a “peace club” — an idea that Lula also took to the US during a visit to Joe Biden — had already mobilized criticism in Western countries in the weeks preceding the trip. The prospect of a new Ukrainian or Russian offensive may have weighed in on the relegation of the issue to the background in the declaration. In addition, Beijing presented its own project in February to end the conflict in Eastern Europe — received with skepticism in the West.

ENVIRONMENT

On the other hand, the fight against climate change was the subject of a joint declaration of its own, in which “Lula and Xi recognized that [a crise do clima] represents one of the greatest challenges of our time and one that tackling it contributes to building a shared future of equitable and common prosperity for humanity”.

Among several highlighted points, the text states that the two countries will “cooperate in the development and sharing of technologies, including the new CBERS 6 satellite, which will allow better monitoring of forest coverage.” The text also says that Beijing and Brasilia will “establish a subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change under the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (Cosban)”.

The Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, at a press conference in Beijing, underlined the progress made by Cosban, recalling that after it was created, in 2004, the topic ended up being left out. “There was an effort for political and strategic understanding, both by President Lula and President Xi Jinping, that it is necessary to place protection of the environment and sustainable development at the highest level of priorities.”

Among these priorities, according to Marina, is “broad cooperation in relation to the forest”, combating deforestation, in addition to “energy transition, because Brazil has a very large potential for the generation of clean energy”. “Brazil has a very great potential to be, at the same time, an agricultural power and a forestry power”, said the minister.