(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Brazil-China Peace Initiative [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-16 Celso Amorim, a top adviser to Brazilian President Lula Photo: Zhang Yashu/GT What’s a guy supposed to do? By Xie Wenting and Bai Yunyi Published: Apr 16, 2023 Editor’s Note: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just concluded his four-day state visit to China on Saturday, returning to Brazil with fruitful outcomes. The two sides have inked a number of deals across a range of fields and are ready to work together to steer and create a new future for China-Brazil relations in the new era, and deliver greater benefits to the two peoples. Global Times reporters Xie Wenting and Bai Yunyi (GT) interviewed Celso Amorim (Amorim), a top advisor to President Lula, on China-Brazil relations, cooperation in the semiconductor industry, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Russia-Ukraine conflict among others. GT: Could you share with us more specifics regarding Brazil's plan in promoting the political settlement of the Ukraine issue? Amorim: We know there is no magic solution. You have to draw a roadmap for peace. But the first step is to have the countries convinced that they have to look for peace. Once they have a disposition for dialogue, there are many ideas, such as involving a group of countries, or even what they call proximity talks, because sometimes for a Russian to speak with a Ukrainian or vice versa, might be difficult. But they might talk to China and China can then talk to Ukraine, or they can talk to Brazil and Brazil can talk to Russia, or vice versa. These are ideas of how to deal with that. Until now, what we have been doing is to discuss, to see the degree of disposition to start the dialogue. We are glad to see that President of France, Emmanuel Macron, is also going more or less along this line. I think if you have, for instance, China, France and Brazil working for peace, you can have other countries as well. That would be a very positive thing because it allows us to have dialogue with both sides, with Ukraine and their allies, and with Russia. Lula’s adviser sums up Brazil's progress on their “Club for Peace” trip to China. This is an abomination. Lula goes to the world’s manufacturer, China, to seek assistance in reviving its manufacturing base. In return, he is willing to support Russia annexing 20% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory as a security buffer, do business with China in local currencies to thwart US sanctions bite, and reduce US hegemony. It is frustrating to see how easily world leaders defer on serious issues like war and peace in favor of their economy. I certainly understand the importance of sustaining and growing a vibrant economy to the viability of any country. But that paradigm cuts both ways, both parties stand to benefit from two-way trade, so a little pressure in favor of a just settlement in Ukraine will not derail economic progress if the particulars of that settlement are universal adhered to. President Zelensky has been left to advocate for his 10 point peace plan with minimum support, even from those who have been supplying him with the means of resistant to Russia’s invasion for over a year. The US, EU and NATO need to actively support Zelensky’s plan or offer one of their own. They appear to have abdicated their role on the issue in favor of Xi Jinping, whose interest is not in a just peace but peace, so China’s recovery is not adversely affected by Russian instability on its border. It is hard to criticize smaller, less powerful countries for parroting China’s position in Xi presence when there isn’t a competing position from the alternative superpower. When faced with a policy vacuum, go along and get along. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/16/2164213/--Brazil-China-Peace-Initiative Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/