Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao will start a 6-day visit to  China today. It will be the first of three high-level visits between the two countries. China is Brazil's largest trading partner. But new President Jair Bolsonaro has pulled closer to Washington during the US-China trade tensions. CGTN's Lucrecia Franco reports.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has never hidden his admiration for the U.S. But his vice president, former general Hamilton Mourao, has always been more balanced regarding the country's foreign relations.

In fact, Mourao will be the man visiting China ahead of his boss who is set to go in August. Mourao will restart the China-Brazil High-Level Commission, which was suspended after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016.

MAURICIO SANTORO, POLITICAL ANALYST RIO DE JANEIRO STATE UNIVERSITY "The trip of General Mourao to China is very important -- much more than a usual mission of a vice president. It shows our political commitment to the relationship with China."

In an exclusive interview with CGTN before he took office, Mourao talked about the importance of the China-Brazil partnership.

HAMILTON MOURAO BRAZILIAN VICE PRESIDENT "China is a major player in the world today, and we sell a lot of goods, lots of stuff, mainly our agricultural products to China. And China has money to invest, so the same way that we have to be a global player with the U.S., we have to be with China, and we have to find ways with mutual benefits for both countries."

According to Brazil's Ministry of Economy, the country's exports to China totaled more than 66 billion dollars last year. That represents about 28 percent of Brazil's total exports- up 32 percent compared to 2017.

However, some experts say the surge has been driven mainly by commodities such as soybeans, crude oil and iron. The vice president's trip to China is critical to push for much-needed investments.

LIA VALLS, ECONOMIST GETULIO VARGAS FOUNDATION "We also have a program of investment from China. We have the fund, the Brazil-China Fund, that is financed by the Chinese with 15 billion dollars for infrastructure projects. And for Brazil, infrastructure is terribly important because we have a bottleneck in this area, and the only country, in some sense, that we have this joint-venture in infrastructure with -- is China."

LUCRECIA FRANCO RIO DE JANEIRO "Since his inauguration, President Jair Bolsonaro has pulled back on his criticisms of China. Analysts say Vice President Hamilton Mourao has convinced him that China is not a threat to Brazil but a strategic partner to help revive the country's economy. Lucrecia Franco, CGTN , Rio de Janeiro."