By Ricardo Brito and Eduardo Baptista
BRASILIA (Reuters) -China's President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian peer Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday upgraded the status of diplomatic relations and struck agreements on infrastructure, energy and agribusiness, tightening links between two of the world's largest developing economies.
The state visit in Brasilia capped a regional tour by Xi that showcased Beijing's growing diplomatic clout during a tricky government transition in Washington.
Xi and Lula both said the China-Brazil relationship had become a "Community with a Shared Future for a More Just World and Sustainable Planet," expanding a key slogan from the Chinese leader in their joint declaration at the presidential residence.
They also agreed to find "synergies" between the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and Brazilian development programs, after Lula declined last year to formally include Brazil in China's global infrastructure investment strategy.
The countries struck nearly 40 cooperation agreements in economic sectors from farming and solar power to communications and nuclear energy, strengthening ties between the two nations with more than $150 billion of bilateral trade, Lula said.
"China-Brazil relations are now at their best moment ever," said Xi, adding that China was ready to make the nations "golden partners."
Xi has used the term "Community with a Shared Future" to formalize what Beijing sees as a positive and wide-ranging bilateral relationship with a country sharing geopolitical and economic interests, such as Vietnam.
"This designation is reserved for partners China considers truly special and irreplaceable," said Sunny Cheung, associate fellow for China studies with the Jamestown Foundation. "For Beijing, it underscores Brazil's strategic importance, both as a leading voice in the Global South and as a critical partner in ensuring China's long-term economic and food security."
Brazil's Agriculture Ministry cheered the potential for $450 million in new exports to China as new trade accords opened its market for Brazilian sorghum, fresh grapes, sesame and fishmeal.
Brazilian meat packer BRF, the world's largest chicken exporter, in parallel announced a deal to acquire a processed foods factory in China's Henan province for $43 million, along with plans to invest $36 million in expanding the plant.
Although Brazil-China trade relations have been growing for decades, their diplomatic relations faltered under Lula's right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who echoed anti-China rhetoric from former U.S. President Donald Trump, an ideological ally.
During Lula and Xi's meeting on Wednesday, China's low Earth orbit satellite company SpaceSail, which aims to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink, signed an agreement with Brazil's state telecom Telebras to enter the Brazilian market.
Brazilian state bank BNDES said it had arranged for a 5 billion yuan ($690 million) loan from China Development Bank - the first such operation denominated in the Chinese currency.
DIPLOMATIC TOUR
The state visit in Brasilia came after twin summits for Xi in the past week: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima and then the Group of 20 major economies in Rio de Janeiro.
Xi played a central role at the summits, while U.S. President Joe Biden arrived as a lame duck with just two months left in the White House and little leverage as Trump vows a total foreign policy overhaul.
A group portrait on the first day of the G20 summit captured the moment, with Xi front and center, next to the presidents of Brazil, India and South Africa - China's partners in the BRICS group of major developing nations and the three consecutive G20 hosts from 2023 to 2025.
Biden missed that photo op for "logistical reasons," the White House said.
With Biden diminished and Trump averse to multilateral forums, diplomats and foreign policy experts said Xi's charm offensive was filling a vacuum in an unsettled global order.
China's side meetings with Western powers amid trade and geopolitical tensions, from the U.S. and Britain to France and Germany, showed a conciliatory turn from Beijing ahead of four more rocky years facing down Trump, said Li Xing, a professor at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies
"China's strategy is clear, the posture it is displaying is to let go of past resentment," said Li. "This is definitely an adjustment, and it's all because this year's G20 summit was in a transition period following the U.S. election."
Behind the scenes, several diplomats who had been part of previous G20 summits noticed an evolving posture from the Chinese - less focused on their own narrow interests and more proactive about forging a wider consensus.
"China is much more involved and much more constructive," said one Brazilian diplomat, requesting anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
A European diplomat noted that Chinese peers helped to build consensus this year on several fronts, including topics such as women's rights where they had not been traditionally active. It looked like a conscious move to occupy a multilateral forum that Trump is likely to neglect, the diplomat added.
"A place left unoccupied will be occupied by another," said the European diplomat. "Apparently China is interested in occupying more than it has to date."
($1 = 7.25 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia, Eduardo Baptista, Jake Spring, Lisandra Paraguassu and Elizabeth Pineau in Rio de JaneiroEditing by Brad Haynes, Michael Perry and Jonathan Oatis)
