All-Expenses-Paid Trip to China Dazzles Brazilian Lawmakers
- China invited legislators to boost bilateral relations
- Bolsonaro previously skeptical of Chinese investment in Brazil
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
China’s efforts to dazzle Brazilian lawmakers with its technology, infrastructure and energy projects are starting to pay off, with the latest congressional group returning to Brasilia excited by deepening ties between the two countries and unconcerned about U.S. cybersecurity fears.
While relations between China and President Jair Bolsonaro had a rocky start, legislators always kept a good rapport with the Chinese. Just last month, Brazil’s deputy government leader in the Senate, Chico Rodrigues, led a delegation of five lawmakers who traveled to the Asian country on an all-expenses-paid trip, including business class flights, courtesy of Beijing. Among their stopovers: a showroom belonging to Huawei Technologies Co., the tech giant viewed with great suspicion by the U.S. State Department.