Bolsonaro Visits Xi: Among All The Happy Talk/Trade Deals, Not A Single Word On An Amazon In Flames

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro travelled to China last week for three days of talks with General Secretary Xi Jinping. However, Brazil’s environmental crisis — including August’s Amazon fires, soaring deforestation, and Bolsonaro’s plans to open indigenous reserves to mining — weren’t apparently on the agenda.

Bilateral meetings between Xi and Bolsonaro took place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 25, with a focus on trade and commercial cooperation. The pair signed a total of eight acts, including one committing to increased beef jerky exports from Brazil. But the environment seems to have been ignored, fuelling concerns about China’s commitment to green development and growing threats to the Amazon rainforest. The growth of Brazilian exports to China — particularly beef, soy and other agribusiness and mining commodities — could put the world’s largest remaining rainforest in jeopardy.

A single mention of the environment gave conservationists no comfort. It came at the Brazil-China Cooperation Forum on Oct 25, just hours before Bolsonaro’s meeting with China’s leader, when the Brazilian president thanked China for its support in the Amazon crisis: “I want to say thank you for the words of China’s ambassador to Brazil, recognizing our sovereignty over the Amazon region,” Bolsonaro told a room full of prominent businessmen. “To the Chinese government, thank you. This public recognition is priceless.” On Aug 23, Chinese Ambassador to Brazil Qu Yuhui had said that the Amazon crisis was a “bit fabricated.” High Chinese government officials have made no other statements.

In anticipation of Brazil’s diplomatic visit last week, and the upcoming BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) emerging economies summit in Brasilia next month, expectations loomed over whether China would walk its green talk beyond the Asian nation’s borders. In a recent New York Times commentary, Heriberto Araújo called on China to use its leverage to end Amazon destruction. Araújo, author of China’s Silent Army, stated that the Bolsonaro-Xi visit presented a “perfect opportunity to show the world that [China] is truly committed” to combating global warming. Bolsonaro, like his hero Donald Trump, has shown disdain for the Climate Paris Agreement, which China supports.

EDIT

https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/as-bolsonaro-meets-with-xi-china-silent-on-brazil-environmental-crisis/