Brazil has decided against joining China's Belt and Road Initiative, instead seeking alternative ways to collaborate with Chinese investors, a top government adviser said on Monday.
Celso Amorim, special presidential adviser for international affairs, told Brazilian newspaper O Globo that Brazil wants to "take the relationship with China to a new level, without having to sign an accession contract".
"We are not entering into a treaty," Amorim said, explaining that Brazil does not want to take Chinese infrastructure and trade projects as "an insurance policy".
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According to Amorim, the aim is to use some of the belt and road framework to find "synergy" between Brazilian infrastructure projects and the investment funds associated with the initiative, without necessarily formally joining the group.
The Chinese "call it the belt [and road] ... and they can give whatever names they want, but what matters is that there are projects that Brazil has defined as a priority and that may or may not be accepted [by Beijing]", Amorim said.
The decision contradicts China's plans to make Brazil's joining of the initiative a centrepiece of President Xi Jinping's state visit to Brasilia on November 20. But officials from Brazil's economy and foreign affairs ministries recently voiced opposition to the idea.
As reported by the Post last month, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was advised by diplomats to delay any announcement about joining the Chinese initiative until after the US presidential election.
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 Trump administration more difficult.
Last week, Amorim and the president's chief of staff Rui Costa travelled to Beijing to discuss the initiative. According to sources, they returned "unconvinced and unimpressed" by China's offers.
At the same time, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai - speaking at an event in Sao Paulo - urged Brazil to view the proposal through an "objective lens" and "risk management."
The Chinese embassy in Brasilia called her remarks "irresponsible" and "disrespectful".