Lula should return from China with a souvenir for the USA – 04/12/2023 – Bruno Boghossian
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Lula should return from China with a souvenir for the US in his luggage. Although the president’s schedule in the Asian country was built on the basis of pragmatism and the principle of foreign policy neutrality, the government would also like to display a contrast with the reception offered by the Americans in February.
The PT candidate explored with satisfaction the trip to the White House in the second month of his term. He built ties with Joe Biden, reinforced the promise of a common environmental agenda and displayed the official photo as a pact against the far right. But Lula and his assistants understood that the US was not willing to present a strategic and economic vision in the relationship with Brazil.
The government tried to demonstrate that the conversation in China would be different, despite the lean agenda. In addition to diplomatic meetings, Lula scheduled meetings with Huawei (the Americans’ target in the Brazilian 5G deployment process), contractor CCCC, automaker BYD and energy company State Grid.
Brazilians want to get new investments, but also some symbolic effects. In the tension between Beijing and Washington, the government indicates a generous openness to the Asian country in its foreign policy and seeks to extract economic dividends from the Chinese interest in expanding its weight in Latin America.
The inevitable signal in this context is the reinforcement of a process of loss of US influence in the region. Members of the Brazilian entourage point out that if the White House is not willing to review its form of engagement in Latin America, the loss of space and the advance of China will become irreversible.
The position of the Lula government in this game will be a test for the balanced doctrine of Brazilian diplomacy. Moved by political and economic interests (as well as a dose of ideology), the country would leave aside the illusion of an equidistance between the US and China. It will have to avoid, however, the trap of becoming a cog in this cold war.
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