Thread by @OliverStuenkel

Brazil's president Bolsonaro and his vice-president Mourão are in open disagreement about one of the most important decisions the government will have to make until 2022: how to react to US pressure to exclude Huawei from the 5G bidding process. 👇🧵www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2020/09/…

After Mourão had recently said he was against discriminating against telecommunication companies based on their country of origin (i.e., that he is against banning Huawei), Bolsonaro publicly shot back, stressing that "Who will decide 5G is me, nobody else. I will decide 5G."

Bolsonaro is deeply committed to strengthening ties to Trump. Given that Brazil has delivered very little to the US president so far (China is as influential as ever in Latam, and Brazil has been unhelpful vis-à-vis Venezuela), Bolsonaro is desperate to have something to show.

Aware that Chinese loans, investments and purchases of Brazilian goods will be crucial to help Brazil overcome what increasingly looks like its worst economic crisis in history, key decision-makers, have spoken out against banning Huawei.

These include Vice President Hamilton Mourão, Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina, Minister of Science and Technology Marcos Pontes and Congress president Rodrigo Maia. americasquarterly.org/article/huawei…

The world’s sixth-most populous country is one of the main prizes in a global tech encounter between Beijing and Washington.
americasquarterly.org/article/brazil…

For Brazil, traditionally averse to taking sides or being tied down in alliances and always seeking to carve out a maximum amount of strategic autonomy, the emergence of the tech war between China and the US will involve hard choices.

Given that Bolsonaro regards foreign policy as a tool to mobilize his hard-core supporters & thinks above all about short-term political gain, one cannot help but feel a profound sense of unease that Brazil is making this decision during his time in office
foreignaffairs.com/articles/brazi…