President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) arrives in China this Wednesday (12) with commercial and financial negotiations still underway with the country of Xi Jinping – they are to meet on Friday, in Beijing.
Earlier, on Thursday, the PT member will attend the inauguration of former president Dilma Rousseff at the BRICS Development Bank, in Shanghai. Lula wants investment in new productive assets and infrastructure, including railroads and hydroelectric plants, while his Chinese counterpart demands Brazil's formal entry into the Belt and Road Initiative, which completes ten years in September.
Members of the Brazilian entourage have signaled in two directions, that the Brazilian president can either sign a memorandum to actively join the Chinese program, which already covers 21 Latin American countries, or it can be limited to symbolic support, without formal adherence.
Translated by Cassy Dias