News

Brazil’s new president seeks validation and support from China and the U.S. This presents challenges—and opportunities.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
February 13, 2023
Epoch Times

It sounds paradoxical, but President Lula da Silva of Brazil is seeking closer ties with both the United States and Communist China…. For now, that means he will take what he can get from both the U.S. and the CCP—so long as it benefits his agenda.

America remains the partner of choice for most countries in our region, and Brazil is no exception. That is why Lula chose to meet with the Biden Administration before visiting Beijing. He knows that his people share democratic values with the U.S. and that policymakers in Washington will not threaten their sovereignty like the CCP.

But if America is Brazil’s partner of choice, Beijing is too often seen as the partner of necessity. When Lula needs large amounts of cash and no questions asked, he will turn to China.

This is bad news for everyone in our region…. The history of China’s economic projects is a history of Beijing holding foreign governments hostage through debt-trap diplomacy.

But while Lula’s openness to Beijing is a mistake, it also reveals the failure of America’s international financing efforts. Instead of offering viable alternatives to Chinese investment, the Biden Administration has used U.S. agencies to force pie-in-the-sky climate goals and woke ideology on people who neither want nor need them….

President Biden must take a firm line with Brazil’s new president, holding Lula to account for his friendliness toward the CCP—as well as other bloody handed dictatorships, like those of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. At the same time. Biden must work with Congress to reshape our international financing efforts….

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