Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva arrived in Beijing Monday for a three-day state visit, aiming to strengthen the country's strategic partnership with China. 

Coming during the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Brazilian diplomatic relations, Lula's visit will focus on boosting cooperation with China in trade and investment, scientific cooperation and coordination in international affairs.

He is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart President Hu Jintao and other top leaders today, and will also attend a Brazil-China business forum and the opening ceremony of the Brazilian Studies Center under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He will also visit the Chinese Aerospace Technology Agency to promote cooperation and hopes to reach some agreements with China.

Brazil and China, the two biggest developing countries and two of the BRIC nations, have built up a steady relationship since the strategic partnership was established in 1993, said Zhou Zhiwei, an expert in Brazil Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"As the two biggest developing countries and major players in the world community, the two nations share a lot of common ground and consensus in dealing with international affairs", he said, referring to the current economic crisis, among other major issues.

He said China and Brazil both share a firm stand against protectionism and look to reform international financial institutions to give a bigger say to developing countries. Brazil is also active in resuming the stalled World Trade Organization Doha Round talks in order to ease the fallout from the global financial downturn, and China's cooperation is essential, Zhou said.

Chen Yuanting, an expert with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Brazil and China are linked through trade as China has became Brazil's biggest trade partner and Brazil is China's biggest trade partner in Latin America.

According to Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Commerce, Brazil's trade with China last month reached $3.2 billion, exceeding its $2.8 billion in trade with the United States. Chen also added that Lula's visit to China is a fine "prelude" for the BRIC summit to be held in Russia next month.

Professor He Shuangrong said China-Brazil relations are particularly significant in the international community due to recent changes in the international political and economic order. Stronger Brazil-China ties have been underscored by increased high-level exchanges, as Vice-President Xi Jinping visited Latin America countries earlier this year. 

(China Daily May 19, 2009)