BEIJING: Brazil’s president said Saturday that the United States should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine, as he wrapped a state visit to China in which he has strengthened economic ties with his country´s main trading partner.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva used his trip to push the message that “Brazil is back” as a key player on the global stage -- and to warn that the South American country´s deepening relations with China were non-negotiable. During the trip to China, the left-wing leader lashed out at the power of the US dollar and the IMF, and met representatives from Chinese tech giant Huawei, which has been effectively shut out of the US market.
“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union needs to start talking about peace,” Lula told reporters in Beijing.
In that way, the international community will be able to “convince” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that “peace is in the interest of the whole world”, he said, before leaving for the United Arab Emirates.
Before the trip, Lula had proposed creating a group of countries to mediate in the war, and said he would discuss this in Beijing.
Asked about the progress of this initiative after his conversation with Xi, Lula did not give details. “It is important to have patience” to talk with Putin and Zelensky, he said. “But above all, it is necessary to convince the countries that are supplying weapons, encouraging the war, to stop.”
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived in the United Arab Emirates, following a two-day visit to China to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties.