Brazil will waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens in certain short-term categories, the Brazilian president announced today following a phone call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
“In this context, President Lula da Silva announced that Brazil will grant a waiver for some categories of short-term visas for Chinese citizens, in reciprocity for the visa-free measure adopted by China since 2025,” the Brazilian presidency said in a statement.
During the phone conversation, which lasted around 45 minutes, Lula da Silva and Xi Jinping agreed to expand cooperation in “frontier areas of knowledge” and to leverage synergies between their countries for the development of infrastructure projects, ecological transition and technology.
The two leaders also reviewed the current and uncertain international scenario and reaffirmed their commitment to the “defence of multilateralism, international law and free trade”.
In this context, they supported the “strengthening of the United Nations as the path to safeguarding peace and stability in the world”.
Lula da Silva has intensified contacts with other world leaders this week after being invited by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to join a Peace Council promoted by the Republican leader aimed at resolving the conflict in the Gaza Strip and other ongoing wars.
Brazil has not yet responded, although it appears inclined to decline the invitation.
Celso Amorim, Brazil’s former foreign minister and Lula’s current chief adviser on international affairs, said the previous day in an interview with the newspaper O Globo that the new mechanism promoted by the United States is “confusing” and, in practice, represents a “revocation of the UN” in the areas of peace and security.
In recent months, China and Brazil—founding partners of the emerging economies group BRICS—have stepped up diplomatic contacts amid trade frictions with the United States.
Lusa, 23/01/2026
