Brazil has decided not to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative, becoming the second country in the BRICS bloc after India to stay out of the multi-billion-dollar project, PTI reported.
The South American country will instead explore alternative pathways to work with Chinese investors, according to Celso Amorim, Special Presidential Advisor for International Affairs.
Brazil aims to “take the relationship with China to a new level, without having to sign an accession contract,” Amorim told Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
“We are not entering into a treaty,” he said, adding that Brazil does not seek to view Chinese infrastructure and trade projects as “an insurance policy.”
The Belt and Road Initiative is an international infrastructure development project launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping that envisions connecting China with Asia, Europe and beyond.
New Delhi has refused to join the project, saying that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, violates India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. India has also contended that the project does not offer a level playing field to the country’s businesses.
The statement on the Belt and Road Initiative by the special advisor to Brazilian President Lula da Silva comes weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Brasilia on November 20. The official, Celso Amorim, said that there are “projects that Brazil has defined as a priority and that may or may not be accepted [by Beijing]”.
The BRICS grouping initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. On January 1, five new countries joined as members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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