Lula's government perceptions of Brazil-China strategic partnership

• Grant number: 12/20479-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: November 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: José Augusto Guilhon Albuquerque
• Grantee: José Augusto Guilhon Albuquerque
• Host Institution: Fórum Pensamento Estratégico - PENSES. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Until President Lula's inauguration, in 2003, the relevance of bilateral relations between Brazil and China were rather rhetoric than real. From theyears 2000, however, both the bilateral trade and Chinese investments in Brazil increased so much that the People's Republic of China became Brazil's largest partner in trade and foreign investment. As well, China became the most important foreign destination of Brazilian officials and business people. This project deals with the bilateral relations between the two countries between 2003 and 2010, during Lula's two terms, a period in which Brazil-China relations reached the foreground and the notion of strategic partnership was the most explicitly asserted. The project's objective is to comprehend the nature and real impacts of the priority assigned to the country's bilateral relations with China by the Brazilian government in the Lula Era. This involves examining a wide range of documental data referring to the strategic partnership, such as presidential statements, press interviews by relevant government officials, communiqués relating to presidential visits, bilateral acts and, when possible, interviews with leading figures of Brazilian diplomacy, telegrams, reports of bilateral encounters, etc. All documental and interview data will be processed by discourse analysis techniques. (AU)