SÃO PAULO — China knows a thing or two about rolling out the red carpet and offering lavish treatment to foreign visitors. And it will be no different when Xi Jinping hosts Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday, which marks his third state visit to Beijing. After Lula was forced to cancel a planned trip due to illness in March, Chinese officials quickly signaled they’d be willing to reschedule as soon as possible, underlining that the state visit is a priority for Xi.
While the visit is primarily about deepening economic ties even further—China has been Brazil’s biggest trade partner since 2009—the Chinese government’s not-so-subtle message is that ties to the Middle Kingdom are far more rewarding—and problem-free—than Brazil’s relationship to the United States. As a recent op-ed in China Daily, a Communist Party-owned English-language newspaper pointed out, Lula’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden “didn’t produce any substantive results,” while the Brazilian president’s upcoming state visit to China promised vast potential to deepen “win-win”…
