Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will arrive in Brazil on Wednesday for an official visit. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Brazil.
China and Brazil, the biggest developing countries in Asia and South America respectively, have maintained healthy and stable relations for 35 years.
Continuous high-level contacts
China and Brazil established diplomatic ties in 1974. In recent years, both countries have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges of visits. The two countries set up strategic partnership in 1993 when then Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited Brazil.
In May, 2004, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva paid an official visit to China, followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Brazil in November the same year.
In the following year, Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar visited China and in 2006, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, visited Brazil.
In June 2008, He Guoqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, visited Brazil.
Thanks to these exchanges of visits, the two sides have deepened their mutual understanding and overcome many differences. In 2007, the two countries agreed to establish a strategic dialogue mechanism to further their cooperation.
Economic and trade cooperation?
In the past decade, trade between China and Brazil has been growing rapidly. In the last eight years, bilateral trade has grown by 30 percent annually. In the first 10 months of 2008, bilateral trade volume reached 42.54 billion US dollars, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
In 2007, China overtook Germany as the third biggest trading partner of Brazil, and last year, China surpassed Argentina to become Brazil's second biggest trading partner, after the United States.
Brazil, a major exporter of raw materials, also exports high-tech products like airplanes for regional flights. Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer created a joint venture with the Aviation Industries of China (AVIC-II)in 2002. In 2007, the company delivered its first ERJ 145 model, totally made in China.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies that produce products like electrical appliances and telecommunication devices have achieved great success in the Brazilian market. Chinese brands Huawei, ZTE and Gree are very popular in Brazil.
Mutual support on international affairs
China and Brazil have been working closely on many international issues through various organizations.
As two important emerging countries in the world, China and Brazil share similar views on many issues.
Brazil has expressed on many occasions its strong adherence to the one-China policy, recognizing Taiwan and Tibet as inalienable parts of China.
During the Olympic torch relay last year, Brazil showed its support for Beijing and its opposition to relate the Tibet issue with sports and the attempt to boycott the Games.
Cooperation on culture and sports
The Brazilians have shown increasing interest in Chinese culture. Exhibitions held in Brazil on Chinese culture have been warmly welcomed by the people, who have also become interested in learning the Chinese language.
Since 2007, the Chinese government raised the quota for Brazilian students who want to study in China. In September and November 2008, two Confucius Institutes were inaugurated in Brasilia and Sao Paulo, respectively.
Brazil and China are two countries with great sports potential. As organizers of grand sports events, both countries have cooperated and shared their experiences on the management and organization of such events.
During the Beijing Olympics last year, Brazil sent a delegation to Beijing to learn from China. Brazil will host the Football World Cup 2014.
Technical cooperation
Cooperation in technology is also one of the strong points in bilateral ties.
This year marks the 21th anniversary since China and Brazil launched their cooperation program to develop the Chinese-Brazilian satellite, Ground Resources CBERS. The first satellite in the program, CBERS-1, was launched in Oct. 1999 from the Taiyuan base in China.
The second and third satellites were launched in 2003 and 2007 respectively. The two sides plan to launch the forth one in 2010.
The information collected by the satellites is offered to other developing countries for free. The project has become one of the most successful examples in Sino-Brazilian strategic cooperation, and is considered a model for South-South cooperation.
China and Brazil also have great potential in cooperating on bio-energy and environmental protection.
(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)