Xi ready for stronger Brazil ties under Lula
Chinese president sends warm congratulations to new counterpart
President Xi Jinping congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his inauguration as president of the Federative Republic of Brazil, saying he is ready to work with Lula to take bilateral ties to a higher level.
In a congratulatory message sent to Lula on Jan 2, Xi noted that China and Brazil are both major developing countries with global influence and important emerging markets.
The two countries, which are comprehensive strategic partners, share broad common interests and shoulder common development responsibilities, he said.
Xi said that since the two countries established diplomatic ties 48 years ago, China-Brazil relations have witnessed sustained and in-depth development, thanks to joint efforts of both sides.
This increasingly mature and dynamic relationship has become a model of relations between major developing countries with rich content and broad prospects, he said.
Noting that he attaches great value to the development of the ChinaBrazil comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi said he stands ready to work with Lula to continue to firmly support each other in taking a development path in line with their own national conditions and respect each other’s core interests.
He also expressed his willingness to lead and push the partnership to a higher level with Lula from a strategic and long-term perspective, in order to better benefit the two countries and their peoples.
Lula took office on Jan 1 for a third term as Brazil’s president, vowing to fight for the poor and the environment and “rebuild the country” after the divisive administration of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
The 77-year-old veteran politician, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, took the oath of office before Congress, capping a remarkable political comeback for the metal worker turned-president less than five years after he was jailed on convictions related to alleged corruption.
The Supreme Court quashed his convictions in 2021, ruling that the lead judge in the case had been biased.
Foreign dignitaries including 19 heads of state were in attendance at the ceremony.
They included the presidents of a raft of Latin American countries, Germany, Portugal, and the king of Spain.
At the invitation of the Brazilian government, Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan, as President Xi’s special representative, led a delegation to Brazil to attend Lula’s inauguration, which took place in Brasilia, the nation’s federal capital.
During their meeting, Wang conveyed Xi’s warm congratulations and good wishes to Lula as well as his invitation for Lula to visit China.
As Lula took office, a sea of red-clad supporters braved the scorching heat to flood Brasilia, exuberantly cheering the new president as he was driven through the ultramodern capital in a black convertible Rolls-Royce.
“I’m excited beyond measure,” retired teacher Zenia Maria Soares Pinto, 71, said after traveling 30 hours by bus from the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. “I have so much admiration for his humility, his commitment to ensuring the people live in dignity.”
Giving a blistering overview of the past four years under Bolsonaro, who snubbed the ceremony in a break with tradition, Lula said his government will work to undo a legacy of economic decline, surging poverty and funding cuts in health, education and science.
“Upon these terrible ruins, I pledge to rebuild the country, together with the Brazilian people,” he said, vowing to fight for poor Brazilians, racial and gender equality, and zero deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, where destruction surged under Bolsonaro.
The swearing-in began with a minute of silence for Brazilian soccer legend Pele and former pope Benedict XVI, who had both died in the past few days.
Lula was then driven from Congress to the Planalto presidential palace where he received the presidential sash from eight citizens selected to represent the people.
An emotional Lula broke down in tears, thanking the Brazilian people for their faith in him and vowing to fight for a more just country.
He also extended an olive branch to the many Brazilians who did not vote for him in the election, which he won by a razor-thin 50.9 percent to Bolsonaro’s 49.1 percent.
“I will govern for all 215 million Brazilians,” he said. “There aren’t two Brazils. We are one country, one people.”