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Brazil has a Japanese-Brazilian population of about 2.7 million, and in recent years the country has been increasing its presence in the international community as a leading nation of the Global South grouping of emerging and developing countries.
Japan should work together with Brazil to lead international cooperation.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Japan as a state guest and met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. It has been about six years since the last visit to Japan by a foreign leader as a state guest, when U.S. President Donald Trump visited Japan in 2019.
The prime minister said, “It is essential [for Japan] to work with Brazil as a partner to lead the international community toward cooperation.” During the meeting, the two leaders agreed to make reciprocal visits every two years and to set up a new framework for working-level dialogue between their foreign and defense officials.
In addition to talking about strengthening bilateral ties, the two leaders exchanged views on the situations in Ukraine, the Middle East and East Asia. They also agreed to maintain the international trade system centered on the World Trade Organization.
The Trump administration has turned its back on multilateral cooperation and is threatening the free trade system with its policy of high tariffs. In this context, it is highly significant that Japan and Brazil reaffirmed their policy of promoting diplomacy and trade based on fair rules and contributing to the restoration of the international order.
Japan and Brazil have formed the “Group of Four” countries along with Germany and India and are aiming to reform the U.N. Security Council. It is clear that the Security Council has become dysfunctional due to the disregard for the United Nations by permanent Security Council members such as Russia, China and the United States.
Lula asserted at a press conference that countries like Japan and Brazil have the right to become permanent members of the Security Council. To move forward with the stalled debates on U.N. reform, it is essential to gain the support of countries in the Global South, such as those in Central and South America and Africa.
Brazil will chair the 30th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change this year. To ensure that multilateral cooperation for measures against global warming will not move backward due to the inauguration of the Trump administration, Japan should strengthen its support for developing countries’ decarbonization efforts.
Meanwhile, Brazil is carrying out its own diplomacy in a balanced manner that is not biased toward any particular major power, and it is also a member of the BRICS group of emerging economies, which is led by China and Russia.
China is using its trade ties with Brazil as a springboard to expand its influence over other countries in Central and South America. Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Lula to attend the May 9 Victory Day celebrations marking Germany’s defeat in 1945, and Lula has expressed his intention to visit Russia.
Brazil should take care not to damage its own reputation by being seen as tolerating Russia’s violation of international law with moves such as its aggression against Ukraine.
