Celso Amorim, a diplomat and special advisor on foreign relations to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, last week told Brazil’s O Globo newspaper: “We’re not entering into an accession treaty.”

Instead, he called Brazil’s desired relationship with China “a negotiation of synergies”, saying that Brazil wants to take its relationship with China “to a new level”, while “ diversifying its relations and not depending on a single supplier or partner”.

Around 150 countries have joined the BRI since its launch by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The idea is to invest around $1trn in rail, port, road and other infrastructure around the world to facilitate trade with China.

Divided BRICS

With the decision, Brazil becomes the second BRICS member to reject involvement in the BRI after India.

Italy became the only G7 member-country to sign onto the scheme in 2019, but it pulled out in December last year.

Estonia and the Philippines have also withdrawn from the BRI in recent years.

South China Morning Post reports that China had hoped to make Brazil’s joining BRI a centrepiece of Xi Jinping’s visit to Brazil on 20 November, but that diplomats had advised the Brazilian president to delay until after the US election.

The Post commented: “The prevailing opinion was that joining China’s flagship infrastructure project would not only fail to bring any tangible benefits for Brazil in the short term, but could also make relations with a potential Donald Trump administration more difficult.”