Image credit: Palácio do Planalto
In the midst of a major economic and political crisis, Brazil cannot afford to alienate one of its main economic partners. In the post-COVID world order, Brazil needs to redefine its foreign policy based on national interests other than self-defined ideologies, if it wants to bring about economic growth and regain its legitimacy and influence in the international arena.
Guest Author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia
Before taking over as Brazil’s Chancellorship, Ernesto Araújo was just an obscure lower-ranking diplomat at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
However, he was already known by the Brazilian far-right for maintaining a blog in which he defended American President Donald Trump and paraded conspiracy theories — which he continues to do, but with an infinitely greater reach and capacity for causing damages to the nation’s foreign policy.
To become Chancellor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to accelerate Araujo’s promotion from Minister of Second Class to Minister of First Class even though he never even headed a diplomatic mission abroad prior to becoming Foreign Minister. And his performance is proof of his political and diplomatic inability that has resulted in nothing but Brazil losing its long-fought space on the international scene after years of building a proactive foreign policy that sought to influence issues of great global relevance.
In the same vein, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has also pursued the same agenda of undoing the policies of previous governments while taking an unprecedented tilt towards a virtually automatic alignment with Washington almost on all major issues. In addition, he has strongly backed the forging of an international alliance among the global far-right states including the U.S., Hungary, Poland, and Israel, whose economic benefits to the country remain doubtful up until today.
In his very first months as President, Bolsonaro decided to alter Brazil’s traditional stance of seeking a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to unconditional support for Israel. As part of his visit to Israel, he even announced the moving of the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem, which was not really recognized internationally anyways.
With so-called Christian values at the heart of his foreign policy logic, Brazil has suffered numerous setbacks with considerable political and economic ramifications. For instance, Brazil, in an unprecedented move, sided with countries known for their dubious human rights records in the UN Human Rights Council votes on diversity, gender, and reproductive rights issues.
In February of last year, Brazil embarked on a frustrated attempt to send humanitarian aid to Venezuela in an effort to destabilize Nicolás Maduro’s regime while pleasing Washington, which ultimately led to broader tensions in the region.
A month after, during a visit to Washington, Bolsonaro announced that it would give up its status as a developing country in the World Trade Organization in exchange for Brazil’s entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Earlier this year, the U.S. also voiced its official support for Brazil’s accession to the organization but it is still unknown when the process will begin or how long it will take.
Despite support from the U.S, Brazil still hit the rock when the head of the OECD anti-corruption working group, Drago Kos, said that Brazil will have to explain the reasons behind the resignation of then Justice Minister Sergio Moro—a precondition for the country’s acceptance within the institution. It is noteworthy to mention that President Bolsonaro is accused of illegal interference with the work of the Federal Police in relation to Moro’s resignation.
Clearly, it is quite difficult to understand how Brazil’s special relationship with the U.S has really served its national interests. From threatening to increase steel tariffs to imposing restrictions on flights from Brazil, the U.S has proved to turn its back to Brazil at critical times. While Brazil’s far-right foreign policy and its unconditional alignment with the U.S. has brought no positive outcome for the country, it has surely led to unnecessary and costly clashes with China.
It was no breaking news that Bolsonaro had anti-China stances and used harsh rhetoric against the country before his presidency. However, he soon managed to adapt to a more diplomatic language on China ever since he became President. Yet, his son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, as well as a couple of his Ministers in the government have decided to follow a collision course with Beijing.
In March, Eduardo Bolsonaro blamed China on Twitter for the COVID-19 pandemic, to which the Chinese ambassador to Brazil, Yang Wanming, promptly responded by opening a serious diplomatic crisis between the two countries. Foreign Minister Araújo’s reaction was to issue a statement, clarifying that the comments of the President’s son did not reflect the Brazilian government’s position. Though the statement still ended with blaming the Chinese ambassador for his “disproportionate reaction”, which “hurt good diplomatic practice.”
Two weeks later, Minister of Education Abraham Weintraub wrote on Twitter that the pandemic would serve China’s desire to “dominate the world”. In his tweet, which was later deleted, Weintraub also ridiculed the Chinese accent, which outraged many who found his comment as an act of racism. The Federal Supreme Court also opened an investigation against the Minister, who thought it was a good idea to blackmail China by saying he would only apologize to the country if the Chinese agreed to sell respirators to Brazil. Ironically, it was ultimately the U.S that confiscated a load of 600 respirators that had departed China for Brazil and they were only supposed to transit via Miami.
The Brazilian stance, represented by the speeches of Ministers and politicians, puts Brazil’s trade relations with one of its largest trading partners in jeopardy. Recently, China announced that it would increase its purchase of U.S. agricultural products, claiming that the Brazilian supply chain is not secure due to the pandemic.
The agricultural sector, one of the pillars of Bolsonaro’s popular support, is already showing dissatisfaction with Brazil’s foreign policy in which a considerable part of the industry happens to be very dependent on China. Already weakened after the accusations made by Moro, Bolsonaro cannot afford to lose the support of this sector. In fact, the situation could further escalate when China decides to elevate its formal diplomatic criticism to more concrete actions and trade retaliation against Brazil.
In the midst of a major economic and political crisis, Brazil cannot afford to alienate one of its main economic partners. In the post-COVID world order, Brazil needs to redefine its foreign policy based on national interests other than self-defined ideologies, if it wants to bring about economic growth and regain its legitimacy and influence in the international arena.
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia is a Brazilian journalist published by Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, World Politics Review, The Brazilian Report, PRI, DW, among other news outlets. He also holds a Ph.D. in Human Rights (University of Deusto), a MA in Communication (FCL), and a BA in International Relations (PUCSP). You can follow him on Twitter @Tsavkko.
