Comments made by Brazilian Rep. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of President Jair Bolsonaro, warning against business with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei served to “darken the friendly atmosphere” of relations and “damage the image of Brazil,” the Chinese embassy in Brasilia scolded on Monday.
In a now-deleted tweet posted Monday, the Rio de Janeiro congressman declared that Brazil would follow the lead of the Trump administration in banning Huawei from the implementation of the country’s new 5G networks.
He went on to accuse the state-controlled telecommunications giant of “Chinese espionage” and said that, instead of Huawei, Brazil would work with the anti-Huawei, U.S.-led Clean Network initative designed to counteract “enemies of liberty” such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Jair Bolsonaro has not confirmed that Brazil would do so, though Washington is attempting to convince him.
Responding to Bolsonaro, believed to be highly influential within his father’s administration, the Chinese Embassy in Brasilia launched a protracted Twitter rant of 16 posts in which they described the comments as “totally unacceptable.”
The statement read in part:
Such unfounded statements are not worthy of the position of chairman of the External Relations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. The dictates of the United States in the misuse of the concept of national security lend themselves to slandering China and curbing the activities of Chinese companies.
…
We in China consider this as totally unacceptable and express our strong dissatisfaction and a strong rejection of this behavior. The Chinese side has already formally contacted Brazil through diplomatic channels.
After boasting about China’s extensive investment and control over the Brazilian economy, as well as its assistance during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic which they created, the statement launched into a diatribe about the China-skeptic views of the “extreme right.”
It continued:
Certain American politicians interfere in the construction of the 5G network in other countries and fabricate lies about alleged Chinese cyber espionage, in addition to blocking Huawei in order to achieve an exclusive digital hegemony.
…
We urge these individuals to stop following the rhetoric of the American extreme right, to stop the misinformation and slander about China and the Chinese-Brazilian friendship, and to avoid going too far along the wrong path.
Should Brazil join the Clean Network, it would join other countries such as the United Kingdom, which have banned Huawei from building their 5G networks over concerns the Chinese Communist Party will weaponize it for espionage.
Banning Huawei from Brazil’s 5G networks, if it occurs, would be the first major step taken by President Jair Bolsonaro in pushing back against excessive Chinese influence. Despite campaigning on a hardline anti-China platform similar to President Donald Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has seemingly embraced a close relationship with Beijing since his election in 2018. China remains the country’s largest trade partner and Bolsonaro has traveled to Beijing to expand trade agreements with dictator Xi Jinping.
Last year, the Brazilian leader signed eight separate trade agreements with the communist state and declared that Brazil “needs China” and that the two countries were “completely aligned, in a way that reaches beyond our commercial and business relationship.” In October, it was also announced that the Brazilian ore mining company Vale will collaborate with China’s Ningbo Zhoushan Port operators on a $624-million project aimed at raising export capacity into China.
At the height of Bolsonaro’s anti-China rhetoric in 2018, Beijing launched its own attack on Brazilian people and their culture. An op-ed for the state propaganda outlet Global Times at the time argued that “although it may sound racist,” Chinese culture remains inherently superior to that of Brazil. Reasons for this include the supposed laziness of Brazilians who are “not willing to be as diligent and hard-working as the Chinese,” as well as indifferent attitudes to the importance of “family, children’s education, and wealth accumulation.”
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