China has appointed a new ambassador to Brazil, after more than six months in which the post was vacant with the departure of Yang Wanming. The one chosen to head the diplomatic mission in Brasilia is the current Beijing ambassador to Mexico, Zhu Qingqiao.
According to interlocutors, the agrément — formal name in diplomacy for the request for approval — has already been requested by Beijing and granted by Itamaraty. The Jair Bolsonaro government (PL) was already waiting for the appointment. In a recent conversation, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Foreign Minister Carlos França that the document would be sent soon.
Zhu had two previous visits to Brazil during his career in Chinese diplomacy. Between 2009 and 2014, he was minister counselor in the mission in Brasília, after holding initial positions between 1996 and 2003.
The Chinese chancellery is highly regionalized, which means that a diplomat is usually dedicated to related topics throughout their career. In this sense, Zhu has already spent time at the embassy in Mozambique, another Portuguese-speaking country, and has carried out different functions in the Department of Latin American Affairs, the body he came to direct.
According to interlocutors, the new ambassador speaks Portuguese well.
In addition to his career in the chancellery, Zhu recently held the post of deputy mayor in the port city of Zhuhai.
The appointment takes place amid the electoral process in Brazil — where the presidential second round will be held on the 30th, opposing Bolsonaro to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) — and the holding of the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in which it is expected to define a third term for leader Xi Jinping.
Yang Wanming left Brazil earlier this year, after a mission marked, at first, by friction with authorities in the Bolsonaro government — especially Ernesto Araújo. The strident former foreign minister even asked Beijing to replace Yang. He was ignored.
After Ernesto’s resignation, in March 2021, there was a gradual rapprochement between the then Chinese ambassador and the current administration at Itamaraty.
Yang, in any case, played the most critical moments in Sino-Brazilian relations, under the current president. He exchanged public attacks on social media, for example, with federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), son of the president of the Republic.
In March 2020, the parliamentarian published a text comparing the Covid-19 pandemic to the Chernobyl nuclear accident (1986), stating that the Chinese dictatorship was responsible for the spread of the disease, having preferred to hide serious information for fear of wear and tear.
Yang called the speech a “malefic insult”, and the official profile of the embassy carried a publication that accused the deputy of having contracted a “mental virus”.
Months later, at the height of the attacks on Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, Eduardo accused China of promoting industrial espionage via 5G equipment. “Such baseless statements are not worthy of the position of chairman of the Chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee”, replied the diplomatic representation, referring to the position that the president’s son held.
Ernesto took Eduardo’s pains and sent a letter reprimanding the embassy demonstrations.
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