Lula praises China and says Brazil wants to strengthen ties with China without ‘fighting’ the US | Policy

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this Monday (22) that Brazil intends to strengthen relations with China by exchanging technology, in addition to exporting goods (products such as agricultural and mineral products). Lula said that closer relations with the Asian country would not mean “fighting with the United States.”

The statement was made in an interview at the Palácio da Alvorada with international agencies such as Reuters, Bloomberg, France Presse and the Associated Press. The government has not yet released the official recording, but Planalto has posted an excerpt of the speech on the president’s social networks.

“We intend to discuss with China a new strategic partnership between Brazil and China. A strategic partnership that not only involves the export of goods, but in short, it also involves discussions related to science, technology, the production of chips, software”, Lula said.

He then added that this rapprochement with China does not mean a fight with the US. The United States and China are the world’s largest economies respectively and engage in commercial and political conflicts to guarantee benefits for their markets.

“We don’t want to fight with the United States to be with China. We don’t want to fight with China to be with the United States. We want to have relations with China, with the United States. Germany, we want to have alliances in South America because this is the role of a country the size of Brazil, which has many possibilities of a very promising future for its people,” said Lula.

In the same interview, the president commented on President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the re-election race in the States. The United.PT member highlighted his good relationship with the current head of the White House, but argued that the choice to stay in the election was a personal one.

Biden was the Democratic Party’s nominee, but after pressure, including from allies, regarding the state of his physical and mental health and his ability to handle the controversy and win it, he decided to withdraw from the race.

“I was very happy when President Biden was elected and even more because of his positions in defense of workers. We established a strategic partnership in defense of decent work in the world. I like and respect him a lot. Only he could decide if he would be a candidate or not”, Lula said.

According to Lula, the Brazilian government hopes that whoever replaces Biden as the Democratic candidate will maintain the strategic partnership between the two countries.

“Now, they will choose a candidate and the best candidate will win the election. Brazil will have a relationship with whoever is elected. We have a strategic partnership with the United States and we want to maintain it”, the President added.