Brazil opts not to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative

The 23,456th machine to be manufacturers by Chinese OEM XCMG recently rolled off the production line in Brazil (Photo: XCMG)

The news came ahead of a state visit to Brazil by Chinese President Xi Jinping expected next month, on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Celso Amorim, an adviser to Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, told O Globo that the country would instead work on developing “synergies” with China, without formally joining the BRI.

China is expected to offer opportunities to Brazil in the fields of infrastructure, solar energy, and hybrid or electric cars.

As of December 2023, around 150 countries had signed up to the BRI.

One of the largest BRI projects so far is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a trade corridor that has involved a $60 billion investment by China. It connects Pakistan’s Gwadar ports on the Arabian sea with Kashgar, a city in China’s western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Work has included the construction of airports, railways and highways.

In Indonesia, a high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Bandung is another BRI project to have been completed recently.