Brazil becomes second BRICS country after India not to join China’s BRI

Brazil decides against joining China's BRI, opting for alternative collaboration with Chinese investors, sparking global debate.

In a major setback to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Brazil has decided against joining Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar initiative becoming the second country after India in the BRICS bloc not to endorse the mega project.

Brazil, headed by President Lula da Silva, will not join the BRI and instead seek alternative ways to collaborate with Chinese investors, Celso Amorim, Special Presidential Adviser for International Affairs, said on Monday (October 28, 2024).

Brazil wants to “take the relationship with China to a new level, without having to sign an accession contract”, he told Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

“We are not entering into a treaty,” Mr. Amorim said, explaining that Brazil does not want to take Chinese infrastructure and trade projects as “an insurance policy”.

According to Mr. Amorim, the aim is to use some of the Belt and Road framework to find “synergy” between Brazilian infrastructure projects and the investment funds associated with the initiative, without necessarily formally joining the group, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted him as saying.

The Chinese “call it the belt [and road] … and they can give whatever names they want, but what matters is that there are projects that Brazil has defined as a priority and that may or may not be accepted [by Beijing]”, Mr. Amorim said.

The decision contradicts China’s plans to make Brazil’s joining of the initiative a centrepiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Brasilia on November 20, the Post reported.