With the end of the voting of the electoral college in this year’s U.S. presidential election, more world leaders sent congratulations to President-elect Biden. On December 15th, local time, Brazilian President Bolsonaro, known as “Tropical Trump”, finally sent blessings to Biden.
Interestingly, Reuters believes that when Biden takes office, it will “shadow” the previously hot Pakistan-US relationship, and the cold relationship between the two sides may bring Bossonaro closer to China.
Reuters reported on the 16th that Bolsonaro said in a statement issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs the day before: “Greetings to President Biden and best wishes, hoping that the United States will remain a ‘free country and home for the brave’. I would like to cooperate with you to continue to establish the Pakistan-American Union and defend sovereignty, democracy and freedom, as well as trade integration worldwide.
Bolsonaro also congratulated Biden on Twitter.
On the same day, Mexican President Obrador and Russian President Putin also sent congratulations to Biden. Forbes noted that Bolsonaro, Putin and Obrador were the last national leaders to congratulate Biden on his election. Before that, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Modi, who have a good relationship with Trump, have sent congratulations to Biden.
Commenting on this, Rubens Ricupero, Brazil’s former ambassador to the U.S., said he thought most Brazilian diplomats were shocked by Bolsonaro’s delay in admitting Biden’s victory.” It was a crazy reaction, with no diplomatic logic at all … any minded diplomat knows it’s crazy.”
Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao is also puzzled. On the 15th, a reporter asked him why Bolsonaro admitted Biden’s victory at this time. Morao replied, “I don’t know.”
Guga Chacra, a foreign affairs commentator at GloboNews in Brazil, believes that Bolsonaro’s “sincere admiration” for Trump is the reason behind it.” He doesn’t congratulate Biden, not because Biden has something particularly against him, but because he really admires Trump, and he admires him.”
While people like Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Modi are close to Trump, Trump is like an ally to them, Chakra added. For Bolsonaro, he is a Trump fan, and the two are more like an “idol worship”.
For the past month, Bolsonaro has supported Trump’s claim that there is fraud in the U.S. election, and secretly criticized Biden. On November 11, it was reported that in a speech on the same day, Bossonaro secretly criticized Biden on the Amazon fire and made harsh remarks: “If words don’t work, gunpowder must be used.”
On November 29, Bolsonaro said publicly: “I have my source, and there is indeed a lot of fraud in that [the election]. No one talks about this. I don’t know if these are enough to define the victory of one side.”
On the same day, the reporter also asked Bolsonaro if he would admit Biden’s victory. He responded: “I’m a little hesitant.”
Mexican President Obrador, similar to Bossonaro, also sent congratulations on the 15th. The Guardian described that Obrador’s letter this time is only two pages, in sharp contrast to the seven pages of letter sent to Trump after his election in 2018. In addition to congratulatory messages, Obrador warned: “We are convinced that it is possible for you to continue to implement the fundamental principles of foreign policy established in our Constitution, especially the principle of non-intervention, during your presidency.”
Although the Western media repeatedly criticized Obrador for not recognizing Biden’s victory, he responded that he was waiting for the Electoral College to vote before sending congratulations.
In response to the Palestinian-American relations after Biden took office, Reuters commented that Bolsonaro may have lost an important diplomatic ally (Trump), which will further weaken his strategy in response to the coronavirus epidemic. Meanwhile, the new pressure exerted by the United States to curb the deforestation of the Amazon and promote the global response to climate change has caused friction between Bolsonaro and Biden, who is angry with Biden’s remarks in the presidential debate.
Reuters quoted experts as saying that it is ironic that Bolsonaro’s cold relationship with the United States may push him closer to China. Bolsonaro has long been skeptical of China, but if environmental and human rights issues hinder the trade agenda of the United States and Brazil, Bolsonaro may turn to Brazil’s largest trading partner, China.
