A disturbing announcement. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decided to postpone his trip to China scheduled for Sunday to recover from “mild pneumonia”, the government announced on Saturday.
Lula, 77, “decided to postpone his trip to China. This postponement has been communicated to the Chinese authorities, “said the communication secretariat of the presidency, without indicating a new date of travel. The Brazilian president was originally scheduled to travel to China on Saturday, but due to “mild pneumonia”, the trip was postponed for a day on Friday.
“Despite the clinical improvement, the medical service of the Presidency of the Republic recommends postponing the trip to China until the end of the cycle of viral transmission”, specifies doctor Ana Helena Germoglio in the press release of the presidency.
It was high blood pressure that prompted Lula to undergo medical examinations Thursday evening on his return to Brasilia, according to the daily Folha de S. Paulo. He had just spent a trying day in Rio de Janeiro, notably visiting the shipyard of the Scorpène submarines manufactured in partnership with the French group Naval Group.
Lula was to travel to Beijing, leading a large delegation of six ministers, governors, deputies, senators and around 200 business leaders. In particular, he was to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday, with whom he was to, among other things, address the conflict in Ukraine and present a proposal, with still vague outlines, of mediation by a group of neutral countries.
China is Brazil’s largest trading partner: bilateral trade reached $150 billion last year.
