China-Brazil Ties Cover Soybean to Space in 50 ‘Golden Years’
By Staff Reporters
On January 23, the Chinese Embassy in Brazil released a logo jointly designed by China and Brazil to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations this year.
China and Brazil established a strategic partnership in 1993, upgrading it to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2012. For 50 years, the two countries have worked together in various areas and made substantial achievements.
Agricultural cooperation
China has been Brazil's largest trading partner, export market and source of trade surplus for 15 consecutive years. Brazil is China's largest trading partner in Latin America.
Agricultural products like soybean and beef comprise a major part of the China-Brazil trade. According to the Brazilian Embassy in China, over 20 percent of the agricultural products China imported in 2022 were from Brazil.
In 2022, China imported a total of 2.69 million tonnes of beef, of which 1.11 million tonnes were from Brazil, accounting for 41 percent of the total beef imports, which made it China's largest foreign beef source, according to the General Administration of Customs of China.
Beyond trade
The China-Brazil partnership goes beyond trade, ranging “from soybean to space.”
In December 2019, the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite-04A, jointly developed by the two countries, was successfully launched.
In August 2021, the space agencies of the five BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - signed an agreement for cooperation on BRICS remote sensing satellite constellation for economic and social development.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s state visit to Beijing in April 2023 resulted in 15 agreements and over $10 billion of Chinese investment.The cooperation between the two countries has expanded from trade to space collaboration, research and innovation, digital economy, information technology, automotive industry and renewable energy.
Next golden 50 years
China and Brazil will take the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations as an opportunity to forge the next "golden 50 years" of bilateral relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on January 19.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira.
He called on both sides to jointly lift the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level and make it a model of unity, cooperation, mutual benefits and win-win results among major developing countries.
"Our relationship with China is extraordinary, and it has become more mature and stronger over time," President Lula said when he visited China in April 2023. "… Nobody can stop Brazil from continuing to develop its relationship with China."
