Lula strikes confrontational tone with the U.S. during visit to China
The first day of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s trip to China was marked by a tone of defiance against the hegemony of the United States, in line with the Chinese government’s defense of multipolarity. In Shanghai, the Brazilian leader delivered an eloquent speech against the use of the U.S. dollar as the dominant currency in the global economy during the inauguration of former President Dilma Rousseff as head of the New Development Bank (NDB), the bank of the BRICS, the group formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.Afterwards, Mr. Lula visited a research center of the technology giant Huawei, considered by the U.S. as a security risk and an arm of the Chinese government — however, it is a private-sector company at the center of China-U.S. disputes. This way, Mr. Lula’s trip to Brazil’s largest trading partner began as music to Beijing’s ears.Mr. Lula’s statements so far have been limited to a speech at the NDB in which, as expected, he defended principles dear to the Chinese. Without speaking to the press, he was able to avoid topics that could cause frictions with the host country, such as democracy, human rights, geopolitical tensions, and the most sensitive issue for China, the status of Taiwan, a self-governing island that it considers a rebel province.President Lula’s stance diverges from the tone adopted in Washington: when he visited President Joe Biden in February, the Brazilian leader used his brief stay in the U.S. capital to defend democracy — still referring to the riots of January 8 and with strong criticism of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. The agenda in the U.S. had almost no economic components and ended without any relevant agreements, while the Brazilian President asked the U.S. for more investments in Brazil and the region.In Shanghai, Mr. Lula revisited the issues that gave rise to the BRICS, such as the need to reform the global governance system to give more space to emerging countries. Alongside Chinese deputy foreign minister Xi Feng, the speech was in line with similar positions taken by Beijing, which is likely to raise questions from the Americans about the Brazilian argument of equidistance in the rivalry. At the end of February, the Lula administration was criticized by the U.S. for allowing two Iranian warships to dock in Rio.Half of the Brazilian president’s speech at the NDB was improvised, precisely when he took the opportunity to criticize the hegemony of the dollar. The use of...
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