Experts: China-Brazil cooperation benefit Latin America development

Experts Spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Brazil, saying the elevation of bilateral ties and deepening cooperation between both countries not only benefits themselves, but also offers hope for a more inclusive and equitable global development.

China and Brazil signed 38 cooperation agreements during the visit, including a joint statement in announcing the elevation of bilateral ties to the community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet.

Besides, some of the agreements focused on aligning the development strategies of both countries, which includes accelerating the integration of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Brazil's New Growth Acceleration Program, Neo-industrialization Plan, Ecological Transformation Plan and South American Integration Route Plan.

Experts believe that the agreements will strongly promote the quality and upgrading of cooperation between the two major economies, help accelerate their respective modernization and further improve the overall level of cooperation between China and Latin America.

Haroldo Ceravolo Sereza, news director of Opera Mundi in Brazil, said the signing of the agreements highlights a strong alignment between the two countries. "While not total, this alignment represents one of the most significant forces in international politics today."

Noting China and Brazil share a painful colonial history and each having suffered in its own way under the violence of powerful empires, Sereza said the desire for peace and negotiation prevails both among their people and in the rhetoric of their leaders, adding that this marks a stark contrast to the experience of the U.S. and Europe, which often favor force and violence over even heated debates about their positions.

In this sense, if Brazil and China continue deepening their contributions and exchanges, they offer hope for a world where negotiations are broader and more democratic, and where exchanges between nations are more equitable, said Sereza, adding that both countries can make the world a better place to live in.

In recent years, the economic cooperation between China and Brazil ranges from commodity agricultural and mineral products to infrastructure construction, automobile industry, and electric power industry.

That kind of cooperation has brought benefits to not only the owners of small commodities, but also the high-tech industry practitioners, said Chai Yu, general director of the Institute of Latin America of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, adding that the prospects of cooperation between China and Brazil is very broad.

Song Junying, director of the Department for Latin American and Caribbean Studies of China Institute of International Studies, also said the cooperation agreements matter a lot to Brazil, which is the leading power in Latin America.

The trade between China and Brazil is highly complementary and has made important contributions to Brazil's economic recovery and economic and social development, Song said.

At present, China is accelerating the cultivation of new quality productive forces. Meanwhile, Brazil has also introduced the New Growth Acceleration Program, Neo-industrialization Plan, and Ecological Transformation Plan.

China-Brazil cooperation will not only reshape the economies of the two countries, but is also expected to benefit other Latin American countries, Song added.

Brazilian Minister of Social Communication Paulo Pimenta believed this state visit is a very important step in this new moment for Brazil.

Under the leadership of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the biggest developing country in the western hemisphere has made steady economic and social development in recent years and returned to the top ten economies in the world.

Noting Brazil is strongly reentering the global stage, Pimenta said the elevation of bilateral ties kicks off a new phase.

Brazil was the first country to establish a strategic partnership with China and the first Latin American country to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. This shows that the bilateral relations between China and Brazil are pioneering and innovative in many aspects, said Zhou Zhiwei, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Latin American Studies.

Noting the elevation of ties during the visit once again reflects the feature, Zhou said it also reflects the thickness and maturity of bilateral relations, which is of great significance to the modernization drive of both countries, the unity and self-improvement of the "Global South", and global peace and development.