This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil. Over the past half century, in the face of changing international situations, China and Brazil have always upheld the principles of mutual respect, equality, and win-win cooperation, and the relationship between the two countries has always maintained stable development. Now, standing at the new starting point of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two sides will continue to deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and give new contemporary connotations to China-Brazil relations.
Brazil is the first developing country to establish a strategic partnership with China and the first Latin American country to upgrade its bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. China and Brazil have no geopolitical conflicts or real interest disputes. Their economies are highly complementary, their interests are deeply integrated, and their positions on major international and regional issues are similar. This is the most valuable strategic asset and the most important common interest between China and Brazil, and it is also the political foundation for the two sides to deepen mutual trust and cooperation.
Over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Brazil have achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation. Brazil is the largest destination for China’s direct investment in Latin America. China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years and is also Brazil’s first trading partner with exports exceeding US$100 billion. In 2023, China-Brazil bilateral trade reached US$181.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. The two countries are accelerating the docking of development strategies and creating more cooperation growth points in frontier fields such as energy transformation, digital economy, low-carbon development, and intelligent manufacturing on the basis of deepening cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture.
Empowering agricultural development with new concepts and technologies is the key direction of the expansion of China-Brazil agricultural cooperation. At the just-concluded 7th China International Import Expo, Brazilian agricultural products such as soybeans, coffee, and red wine were welcomed; in February this year, the China-Brazil agricultural mechanization cooperation demonstration project was launched in Abódi, Brazil, and the first batch of 31 equipment from Chinese agricultural machinery companies was officially delivered to Brazilian rural workers’ organizations; in January 2023, China imported Brazilian corn by bulk ship for the first time, marking the official opening of the Brazilian corn export corridor to China.
In recent years, the Brazilian government has actively advocated green energy transformation, and clean energy cooperation has also become a hot area of cooperation between China and Brazil. In 2017 and 2019, the Belo Monte Phase I and Phase II UHV transmission projects in which China State Grid Corporation participated were completed and put into operation, transporting the abundant hydropower resources in northern Brazil to the densely populated southeast; in December 2023, China State Grid Corporation successfully won the bid for the franchise of Brazil’s third DC UHV transmission project, and in the future will transport clean energy such as wind and solar energy in the northeast to the capital Brasilia and other places.
The cooperation between the two countries is also expanding in the fields of digital infrastructure construction, digital technology, smart cities, etc. Huawei has deployed more than 8,000 kilometers of optical fiber in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, solving the problem of lagging broadband construction in the area; China Telecom Brazil has completed the construction of network service nodes in Sao Paulo, providing high-quality network services to enterprises in both countries; TCL has established a digital production line for TV sets in Manaus, and intelligent manufacturing has helped improve production efficiency; CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. has established the China-Brazil Smart City Technology and Cultural Exchange Center in Rio de Janeiro…
The friendship between China and Brazil is like a bright star, illuminating the way forward for mankind. Let us join hands to write a new chapter of China-Brazil friendship, open the next golden fifty years, and contribute more wisdom and strength to the future of mankind.
