Slow to establish connections with Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries, China now is moving aggressively. Almost overnight, it has become Brazil's second-largest trading partner, after the United States, buying Brazilian iron, steel, aluminum and soy. China's bilateral trade with Brazil has quadrupled since 1999, to $6.7 billion last year. In return, China is backing Brazil's effort to gain a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
"China is intimidating from a military and industrial standpoint, but its special regions have a different image," Brazil's trade minister, Luiz Fernando Furlan, said here at the trade talks last year, referring to Macao and Hong Kong, according to The Associated Press.
In Northern Brazil, a $1.5 billion steel mill is being built in a joint venture between the Shanghai Baosteel Group and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce of Brazil, the world's largest iron ore producer. C.V.R.D. also has a partnership with the Chinese aluminum producer Chalco to build a $1 billion alumina refinery, also in northern Brazil.
We'll get there, Yiwu |
