China critic Bolsonaro looks set for second term as Brazil president

A turnaround on Chinese-made vaccines and a pro-business agenda are proving popular for the ‘Trump of the Tropics’

But while Brasilia has toned down the anti-Beijing rhetoric it could be heading for a rocky period in relations with the US

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro won office on a populist platform in 2018, which included attacks on China for what he called predatory trade practices. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 20 Feb 2021Updated: 4:26am, 23 Feb 2021

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro – known as the “Trump of the Tropics” for his hardline China policies – does not look set to follow his US counterpart into a one-term exit in elections next year.

While much could happen between now and Brazil’s presidential election in October 2022, opinion polls show the nationalist leader well ahead and little in the way of a viable opposition to challenge him.

Donald Trump faced a strong and revitalised challenge in the US from the Democratic Party, but there is nothing similar in Brazil, according to Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university and think tank in Sao Paulo. “I can’t see any well-articulated opposition movement right now,” he said.

As for China – Brazil’s top trading partner since 2009, according to government data – former army captain Bolsonaro and his political allies seem to be toning down their anti-Beijing rhetoric in the wake of Trump’s exit, according to Marcos Caramuru de Paiva, Brazil’s ambassador to China from 2016 to 2018.

China-bashing has been a common refrain for Bolsonaro. When he ran for president and won on a populist platform in 2018, he attacked China for what he called predatory trade practices, warning that Beijing was buying up the country with tens of billions of dollars invested in commodity and infrastructure businesses.

He returned to the theme last year, repeatedly saying the Covid-19 vaccine made by China‘s Sinovac Biotech was untrustworthy. His son, parliamentary deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, echoed Trump in calling the Covid-19 pandemic the result of a “Chinese virus”, a label that infuriated Beijing.

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