The Chinese Communist government is seeking to take advantage of its pleasant relations with the communist Brazilian government to establish a “Maritime Silk Road ” in the Amazon Rainforest, The Brazilian news outlet Infobae reported this weekend.
Infobae claimed in its statement that China ’s strategies for an “Amazon Silk Road ” calls for Chinese state-owned companies to create business roads and business relations in the Amazon Rainforest area and utilize the area’s rich natural sources, raising concerns about economic repercussions and possible forest.
The plans, according to Infobae, would allow for an “unprecedented geopolitical and economic expansion ” in the region as part of China ’s “vision of the new multipolar world order ” promoted by both Beijing and Moscow.
Brazil is a founding part of the China-led BRICS business and security alliance. Shortly after taking office for a third presidential term in January 2023, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his socialist administration began taking steps to “relaunch ” Brazil’s relationship with China, which has been the South American nation’s main trading partner since 2009.
Lula traveled to China for an official visit in April 2023, where both states signed over a hundred contracts covering a wide range of subjects such as communication, technology, and business. Both countries have even signed a deal to abandon the use of the U. S. money in diplomatic business, replacing it with the Chinese yuan.
Although the subject of Brazil joining China ’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI ) was reportedly discussed during Lula’s visit to China, Brazil is not officially part of the program.
Infobae noted that, while the Portuguese Foreign Ministry denied any involvement of Brazil in the BRI, data published in February by the regional government of the State of Pará may suggest otherwise, as it announced the arrival of a Taiwanese group of a “Precursor Committee of the Maritime Silk Road in the Amazon. ”
Among the people of the Chinese group who visited Pará in February were members of the Chinese state-owned Zhuhai Sino-Lac Supply Chain Co. , a firm “specializing in international norms activities and logistics between China and Latin America. ” Infobae reported that the firm is reportedly building a logistics center devoted to Latin America in the Gaolan interface of the town of Zhuhai in China.
Over the past years, Infobae explained, China has increased its financing of the construction of highways, railroads, and other infrastructure projects in the region. China has also begun importing many of the Amazon’s basic products, such as iron, soy, and beef, which environmentalists often mention as causing widespread deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest.
The news outlet noted that the prospective new Maritime Silk Road in the Amazon region, which would mainly be focused on biofertilizer and bioeconomy trade, reflects China ’s newfound interest in the resource-rich region, which has “exponentially grown ” in recent years after being erstwhile considered as having “no significant role ” in the trade between China and Brazil.
According to the Brazil-China Business Council ( CEBC ), a non-governmental organization, the Amazon Rainforest only received$ 11 billion the$ 66 billion in direct investments that China made in Brazil between 2007 and 2020. Brazil’s exports to China amounted to over$ 480 billion in 2023, according to China ’s Customs Administration authority.
According to data from the MIT Media Lab’s Observatory of Economic Complexity ( OEC ), Brazil’s top exports to China are soybeans, iron, frozen beef, and paper pulp. Brazil tops the list of countries in the region that have gained the most from trading with China. In 2023, bilateral trade amounted to roughly$ 181 billion, of which Brazilian exports represented$ 121 billion.
The bulk of Latin American exports to China in recent years have been six products: soybeans, copper, iron ore, oil, copper cathode and beef. All six exports together accounted for 72 percent of Latin America’s total exports to China. Infobae noted that Latin American countries mainly import manufacturing products from China, which has had “the side effect of displacing regional production. ”
Infobae stressed that China ’s efforts to extend its reach in the Amazon Rainforest and exploit its resources could cause critical problems to the region and its environment.
The potential threats to the Amazon Rainforest would add to the ongoing environmental damage that Chinese illegal fishing vessels are causing not just to Brazil, but all throughout Latin America, as well as the illegal wildlife trafficking of local fauna shipped to China from Brazil through a route that passes through neighboring Guyana and Suriname.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
