Lula to visit China, seeks common ground with Xi on trade and Ukraine

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will travel to China with a large business delegation in tow later this month.

About 90 of the 240 business representatives on the March 26-31 trip hail from the agricultural sector, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said.

Lula, who took office January 1 for a third term as Brazil's president, will travel to Beijing and Shanghai. On March 28, he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed the trip.

Since 2009, China has been Brazil's largest trading partner and one of the main investors in Latin America's largest country.

Brazil, which mainly exports soy and other commodities, wants to deepen relations with China and diversify its exports, said Eduardo Paes Saboia, the Foreign Ministry secretary for Asia and the Pacific.

Lula, an icon of the left in Latin America, had proposed an international mediation initiative in January to settle the Ukraine war. This "peace club" was to include Brazil and China, among others.

He has also said Brazil has no interest in sending weapons to Ukraine.

"China's call for peace talks and the news of Xi Jinping's trip to Russia create a critical mass for a good conversation between the two," the Brazilian diplomat said.

The Chinese president will travel to Moscow on Monday and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leadership has said it would reject any Russian-dictated peace and has reacted with deep scepticism to a recent Chinese peace proposal.