“The country needs to learn from China that modernization is not only about the economy, but it’s social and institutional modernization. It creates a lot of opportunities,” Alessandro Teixeira, Former Minister of Tourism of Brazil and Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University, told GDToday at the Understanding China Forum.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited China from April 12 to 15, during which the two countries witnessed China-Brazil partnership continuing to deepen. The two sides signed a series of cooperative agreements covering such areas as space exploration, trade, culture and agriculture.
President Lula considers China one of the most important partners of Brazil, not only trade partner, but partner in terms of investment, technology exchange, which is retaking its position in bilateral relations, according to Teixeira.
He comments, “Leaders of the two countries share the same vision. President Lula and President Xi are very human-centric. They believe in the same elements and defend multilateralism.”
The concept of high-quality development and a shared future of the world, in Teixeira’s opinion, are attributed to China’s people-centered philosophy of development. “A lot of Chinese companies are helping Latin America to reduce the gap in infrastructure,” he raised an example.
In addition, Teixeira comments that the closer cooperation between Brazil and China was also a great benefit for world development.
Statistics show that developing countries account for more than 80 percent of the world's population and contribute more than 70 percent to world economic growth.
However, “A lot of the decisions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are taken by developed countries, not developing countries,” Teixeira noted, “That's why many countries want to reform the international governance system so as to have more voices.”
As developing countries still face challenges in terms of multilateralism and international institutions, he thinks developing countries need a better say in the global governance system to achieve more South-South cooperation.
He added, “that's a very important issue, and I believe that China and Brazil are very much aligned on these issues.”
Teixeira sees more possibilities that China can bring to Latin American countries. “China nowadays has been the biggest trade partner of many important countries in Latin America and the Caribbean countries, for example, as the main trade partner of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.”
Reporters | Hannah Zhou, Li Fuying (intern)
Script | Hannah Zhou, Li Fuying (intern)
Video | Qin Shaolong, Axin
Poster | Lulu
Editors | Wing Zhang, Steven Yuen, Jasmine Yin
