This article looks at recent relations established between Brazil and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Our goal is to draw attention to the results that have been obtained as well as the challenges that remain in Sino-Brazilian economic and commercial relations, as they have unfolded over the last two decades (1990-2010). Our hypothesis is that relations between Brazil and China have moved ahead during this period, particularly due to the greater freedom of action promoted by the growing interdependence of the international system. Nonetheless, progress has been limited, largely because of (i) internal instabilities in Brazil and China and (ii) the lack of systematic planning in the Brazil-China partnership. In order to verify this hypothesis, we have examined the historical evolution of Sino-Brazilian relations, highlighting the first three phases of bilateral relations, which we classify as follows: (i) relations management (1949 -1974), (ii) establishing the fundaments (1974-1990); (iii) crisis in bilateral relations (1990-1993). Next, we look at the last two phases of Sino-Brazilian relations, (iv) the establishment of strategic partnerships (1993-2003) and (v) maturity of Sino-Brazilian relations (2003 to the present day). We conclude that, if on the one hand the processes of opening and globalization at the beginning of the 1990s allowed for intensified relations between Brazil and China, on the other hand, Chinese crises of legitimacy at the international level and changes in Brazilian foreign policy created many knots in these relations. While Brazil oscilated between a cooperative, developmentalist foreign policy and a neo-liberal one limited to economic interest and submissive to internationally hegemonic forces, China reinforced its pragmatic international behavior, thus widening the logistic profile of its foreign policy and its search for opportunities, beginning in the early 2000s.
China; Brazil; Bilateral Relations; Economic and Commercial Relations