US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to his Brazilian counterpart on Tuesday after that country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, accused America of “encouraging war” while on a visit to China.
(Bloomberg) — US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to his Brazilian counterpart on Tuesday after that country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, accused America of “encouraging war” while on a visit to China.
Sullivan and Celso Amorim “discussed a number of bilateral and global issues, including Russia’s war against Ukraine” and “continued cooperation to combat climate change and protect the environment,” according to a White House account of their conversation.
With the Biden administration seeking to restrict China’s access to high technology chips and pressuring Beijing over its tacit support of Russia, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made much of recent high-profile trips to Beijing by world leaders, including Lula and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Xi traveled to Moscow in March for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second year. He’s also pitched a vague peace plan for the conflict, despite having not spoken with Ukraine’s president since the war began.
While in Beijing over the weekend, Lula told reporters that “it is important that the US stops encouraging war and starts talking about peace.”
He also defended more robust relations with China, saying “We have political interests and we have interests in building a new geopolitics so that we can change world governance by giving more representation to the United Nations.”
Back in Brazil, Lula’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, complained that economic sanctions imposed on Russia after the invasion were taking an unnecessary toll on nations not involved in the conflict. Vieira made the comment after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday.
Brazil is among the nations that have not participated in sanctions on Russia since the February 2022 invasion. Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, also opposed them.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier Tuesday declined to address Lula’s remark, saying only that the Brazilian leader had had a good meeting with President Joe Biden when they met at the White House in February. He also referred to “remarkable convergence” on China between members of the G-7.
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