Brazil’s Diplomacy Viewed As Unskilled, Albeit Pragmatic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two weeks away from hosting the BRICS summit, Brazil has displayed a diplomatic stance marked by instability and amateurism, according to experts and foreign diplomats stationed in Brazil.

The negative assessments are directed at President Jair Bolsonaro and his Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo, who are in charge of leading the negotiations with international partners.

During his 12-day tour of Asia and the Middle East, Bolsonaro reinforced the perception that he would rather govern using discourses that please his radical voters, than send messages to the world.

Before the imbroglio over Marielle Franco’s investigation, Bolsonaro astonished diplomats when he criticized Alberto Fernandez’s election as Argentina’s president and declared that he would not congratulate him.

He further said that women would like to spend an afternoon with a prince (in reference to Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman, accused of killing a journalist) and said that he had an “affinity” with Salman.

Earlier, addressing his constituents on Twitter, he implied that the São Paulo Forum was alive because of a speech by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

El Pais newspaper interviewed two foreign embassy representatives living in Brazil, a Brazilian diplomat and two professors of international relations and political science. The members of the diplomatic corps spoke on condition that their names would not be published.

“In terms of the values and traditions of foreign policy and the level of professionalization of our diplomats, we are facing a setback,” said Fernanda Magnotta, coordinator of the International Relations course of the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP).

According to this specialist, colleagues who work for universities in other countries have viewed the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as amateurs, something that did not occur in past administrations.

“From President Bolsonaro we could expect anything, because he is a radical. But we expected a little more common sense from his diplomats. Something we haven’t seen in Araújo’s administration,” said one of the foreign diplomats interviewed by the report.

In Magnotta’s opinion, President Bolsonaro has also proved to be dazzled by the Republic’s top position. “Before becoming excited about the sumptuousness of the places he visits, the president needs to think about what values are being promoted,” said the professor.

Speaking to journalists in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bolsonaro was asked about his expectations for his afternoon meetings with Prince Salman. He replied: “Everyone would like to spend the afternoon with a prince. Especially you, women”.

When it came to Argentina, Chancellor Ernesto Araújo maintained the strategy that it is always necessary to designate an enemy. He said that “the forces of evil” were celebrating Fernandez’s election. On his Twitter profile, Araújo wrote that “the forces of democracy are grieving for Argentina, Mercosur and the whole of South America”.

Bolsonaro said that although he would not congratulate the President-elect of Argentina, he did not intend to close his doors to him. The biased rhetoric about Fernández confirmed, in fact, what was perceived as a provocation by the Brazilian president. “We are worried and afraid, considering Fernández’s attitude regarding Free Lula”.

Fernández, an advocate of the release of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has criticized Bolsonaro in previous interviews. He said, for instance, that he celebrated when the Brazilian president criticized him. He called him a racist, misogynist, violent and advocate of torture. “With Bolsonaro, I have no problem having problems,” he said in an interview with an Argentine network.

Paulo César Nascimento, a professor of political science at the University of Brasília (UnB), says Brazilian diplomacy has forgotten that relations between countries are between states, not between governments. “Ideology should not be brought to any discussion table,” he said.

Pragmatism’s victory

Despite Araújo and Bolsonaro’s radical discourse, pragmatism, defended mainly by the team of the Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes, has so far been winning an internal dispute within the administration. Months after taking over the presidency, Bolsonaro had even said that the Chinese wanted to buy Brazil, rather than help Brazil.

He said that Brazil’s foreign relations would be open to everyone, regardless of ideology, but he always criticized Chinese communism. “The Government is forced to retreat because of reality,” said Nascimento.

For almost a decade, China has been Brazil’s main trading partner. Data from the Ministry of Economy show that from January to September this year the trade balance between the two countries totaled US$72.8 billion (R$ 291.2 billion), representing 24 percent of all of Brazil’s trade with the rest of the world.

Argentina is in third place in this ranking – behind the United States. It recorded trade of US$15.2 billion (R$60.8 billion) in the period. It is the leading partner in Latin America.

“The president embraces the strategy of shooting from the hop. He has a very aggressive narrative, but it is not matched with a similar approach. It has already changed with China. Soon, it should also change with Argentina,” said Professor Magnotta.

Bolsonaro’s apparent affection for the Arab prince also reflects a specific action. Saudi Arabia has announced an investment of US$10 billion in infrastructure in Brazil.

Source: El Pais