Brazil won’t join China’s BRI, 2nd BRICS nation after India to do so

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.

Brazil wanted to “take the relationship with China to a new level, without having to sign an accession contract”, he told a Brazilian newspaper. “We are not entering into a treaty,” Amorim said, explaining that Brazil did not want to take Chinese infrastructure and trade projects as “an insurance policy”.

According to Amorim, the aim was 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]”, 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. Officials from Brazil’s economy and foreign affairs ministries recently voiced opposition to the idea, it said. BRICS originally consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been admitted as new members.

India has protested against China for building the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), stated to be the flagship project of the BRI through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in violation of its sovereignty. India is also vocal about its criticism of BRI projects stating they should be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance and the rule of law and follow principles of openness, transparency and financial sustainability.