China aims to strengthen Brazil ties to counter global ‘bullying’
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, that China is ready to enhance coordination with Brazil to "resist unilateralism and bullying."
Wang made the pledge to Vieira in a phone call, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, as the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva considers retaliatory trade measures against the United States over President Donald Trump’s imposition of 50 percent tariffs on a range of Brazilian goods, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
During the phone call, Wang told Vieira that the China-Brazil relationship “is at its best in history”, China’s state-run Global Times reported, quoting Wang.
Noting that the current international situation “is undergoing complex changes”, Wang also pledged China’s willingness to join hands with the BRICS trading block, to protect “the legitimate rights and interests” of developing countries.
BRICS, which includes emerging economies such as Brazil, is a China-led political and economic grouping that is seen as a counter to the Western-led APEC and G7 groups.
Beijing’s offer comes amid indications that Brazil is considering a coordinated response with China and India against punitive US trade measures.
According to Global Times, Wang also recalled Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Lula’s phone call two weeks ago in which the two leaders “forged solid mutual trust and friendship” in the building of a China-Brazil community “with a shared future”.
Beijing has worked in recent years to court Latin America as a way of countering Washington, which is historically the most influential major power in the South American region.
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