What does Brazil expect from China?

Brazil’s contradictory stance on China is bad for business. Photo: FP

China has been Brazil’s biggest trade partner since 2009. The Asian giant is the destination of 19 percent of all Brazilian exports, and in recent years a major investor in the country. In 2017, Chinese firms poured a record of USD 20.9 billion into Latin America’s biggest economy. However, China is largely absent from the debates surrounding the upcoming presidential election.

The leading candidates say very little about the superpower, and when they do – as in the case of Congressman Jair Bolsonaro – it is to express a Trump-esque nationalist rant against the Chinese. What is happening?

Brazilian exports per country of destination

Brazilians don’t really know much about China

Brazil’s main economic actors have very different points of view on China, with agribusiness, mining and energy companies benefiting from the massive <a href="https://brazilian.report/2018/05/17/brazils-exports-imports/">trading</a> relations – and investments – between the two countries. The industrial sector, though, seems to be worried about the competition with China’s more competitive products. Such contradictory views about China add to the general lack of knowledge and familiarity of Brazilians towards Chinese culture, which leads political leaders to become cautious and mistrustful. Exports to China are huge, but 73 percent of them are concentrated in three commodities: iron ore, soybeans, and oil. On the other hand, imports of Chinese products are widespread across several industries, and have been difficult competition for sectors such as textiles, toys, and electronic devices. Many important industrial lobbies in Brazil see China as a threat, and they press politicians to apply <a href="https://brazilian.report/2018/06/20/brazil-us-china-trade-war/">protectionist measures</a>, in a country that still maintains quite high tariffs and where <a href="https://brazilian.report/2018/04/16/mercosur-free-trade-problems/">free trade agreements</a> have never been popular – even before the current anti-globalization wave. <hr /> <h4>Brazilian exports to China</h4> <img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4284" src="https://brazilian.report/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/exports-to-china-1024x442.jpg" alt="exports to china Mapping Brazil’s exports and imports" width="1024" height="442" srcset="https://brazilian.report/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/exports-to-china-1024x442.jpg 1024w, https://brazilian.report/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/exports-to-china-300x129.jpg 300w, https://brazilian.report/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/exports-to-china-768x331.jpg 768w, https://brazilian.report/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/exports-to-china-610x263.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> <hr /> <h3>Brazilian concerns</h3> Besides economic competition, there also security concerns coming from the Armed Forces, which are enjoying an <a href="https://brazilian.report/2018/03/02/brazilian-military-influence-government/">increasing level of influence</a> in Brazil amid the chaos of the country’s political crisis. Military officers fear Chinese presence in what they consider to be strategic sectors for Brazil, such as <a href="https://brazilian.report/2018/04/10/brazil-energy-matrix/">energy</a> and <a href="https://brazilian.report/2017/11/09/infrastructure-problems-brazil/">infrastructure</a>. The old doctrines of the Cold War are still strong among generals and admirals, who sometimes feel uncomfortable in dealing with a nation that is still run by a one-party communist regime. They tend to adopt American or West European perspectives that see a rising China as a threat to the global order and resent Chinese influence in South America and Africa as a rival to the goals of Brazilian foreign policy. China has strong economic ties with Brazil, but they are not matched by a big cultural presence, with movies, literature or music. Few Brazilians speak Mandarin, even among diplomats, scholars or corporate executives with business interests in Asia. Scholarship programs are not common. The lack of familiarity breeds fear and misunderstanding. However, Brazilian politicians cannot afford the luxury of hiding behind a wall. The relations with China are too important for that. What does Brasilia expect from Beijing? This is not just a key foreign policy question, but also an important part of the debate about the model of development and international presence that Brazil is seeking. It is even more relevant at a time where the United States does not have a positive stance toward Latin America, and the European Union seems too fragmented and divided to propose an alternative. Are Brazil’s leaders up to the challenge?

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