BEIJING, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured his Brazilian counterpart on Friday that China would stand by Latin America’s biggest economy and the Global South, and called for both nations to maintain the role of the United Nations, state news agency Xinhua said.
Xi’s comments in a telephone call with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva followed the latter’s criticism of the U.S. attack on Venezuela in an opinion piece in the New York Times this week.
China and Brazil should safeguard the shared interests of the Global South and jointly maintain the role of the United Nations in the “current turbulent international situation”, Xi added, the agency said.
The remarks came weeks after the Trump administration seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to be prosecuted in the United States on narcotics charges, throwing Caracas into political uncertainty.
U.S. MOVE STOKES WORRIES IN LATIN AMERICA
That action stoked worries among Latin American countries about the risk of similar interventions by force on their turf, and prompted criticism from the United Nations.
The United States was acting with impunity and the founding principles of the United Nations, including the equality of member-states, were now under threat, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
In his January 18 piece, Lula wrote that the future of Venezuela, and of any other country, must remain in the hands of its people.
“In more than 200 years of independent history, this is the first time that South America has come under direct military attack by the United States, though American forces previously intervened in the region,” he said.
“It is crucial that the leaders of the major powers understand that a world of permanent hostility is not viable. However strong those powers may be, they cannot rely simply on fear and coercion.”
TRUMP’S GREENLAND THREAT OPENS RISK WITH ALLIES
Trump’s threat to use force to acquire Greenland, an autonomous Danish independent territory, has also opened a rift with security allies across the Atlantic.
The U.S. bombings in Venezuela and Maduro’s capture will also challenge China’s influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, where Xi has promised new credit lines and further infrastructure investment.
“China is willing to remain a good friend and partner to Latin American and Caribbean countries,” Xi told Lula.
A 2024 strategic partnership to align China’s Belt and Road Initiative with Brazil’s plans on farming, infrastructure, and the energy transition exemplifies solidarity and cooperation among Global South countries, Xi said.
China also looks to help build a China-Latin America community with a shared future, he added.
(Reporting by Liz Lee, Ryan Woo and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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