Chinese ambassador who starred in clashes with Bolsonaro government leaves Brazil

Ambassador who starred in the main clashes of the Jair Bolsonaro government (PL) with China, diplomat Yang Wanming should return to Beijing in the coming days.

Yang met this Friday (25) with Minister Carlos França (Foreign Affairs) to formally bid farewell to the post. “I had the pleasure of saying goodbye to Minister Carlos França before leaving the post of ambassador. I am grateful to his Excellency for the importance he attaches to Sino-Brazilian relations. I also appreciate all the support I received from the Brazilian federal government and from Itamaraty”, he wrote.

According to interlocutors, Beijing has yet to appoint a new ambassador. Until then, the embassy will be commanded on an interim basis by diplomat Jin Hongjun.

Upon leaving Brazil, Yang concludes a mission marked, at first, by friction with authorities in the Bolsonaro government — mainly with former minister Ernesto Araújo.

The former foreign minister even asked Beijing to replace Yang. It was ignored.

After Araújo’s resignation, in March 2021, there was a gradual rapprochement between the Chinese and the current administration at Itamaraty.

Yang starred in the most critical moments in Sino-Brazilian relations during Bolsonaro’s term. He exchanged public attacks on social media, for example, with deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (União Brasil-SP), son of the president of the Republic.

In March 2020, the deputy published a text comparing the Covid-19 pandemic to the Chernobyl nuclear accident (1986), in the former Soviet Union, stating that the Chinese regime was responsible for the spread of the disease.

“Replace the nuclear power plant with the coronavirus and the Soviet dictatorship with the Chinese one. Once again a dictatorship preferred to hide something serious than to expose it with wear and tear, but that would save countless lives”, wrote the deputy at the time.

Yang called Eduardo’s speech a “malefic insult”, and the official profile of the embassy ran a publication that accused the deputy of having contracted a “mental virus”.

Months later, a new confrontation between the president’s son and the diplomatic mission commanded by Yang. At the height of the attacks on Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, the parliamentarian accused China of promoting industrial espionage via 5G equipment.

“Such unfounded statements are not worthy of the position of chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies,” said the diplomatic representation at the time, referring to the position he held.

“They are willing to follow the dictates of the US in the abusive use of the concept of national security to slander China and restrict the activities of Chinese companies. This is totally unacceptable to the Chinese side and we express strong dissatisfaction and vehement repudiation of this behavior.”

Ernesto took Eduardo’s pains and sent a letter reprimanding the embassy demonstrations.

Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, Yang and other Chinese diplomats have remained in seclusion at the embassy. Under Beijing’s guidance, meetings and contacts with Brazilian authorities began to be carried out exclusively by videoconference.