Evandro Menezes de Carvalho Photo: Courtesy of Carvalho

Content posted by: Dafne Ashton

247 - During an interview with the program Good Night 247, Professor Evandro Carvalho, an expert in international law and scholar of China, defended that Brazil needs to resume the debate on socialism in the face of the transformations in the world order led by the rise of China. "It's time to talk about socialism," he said, discussing the implications of the emergence of a new global governance model.

The interview addressed topics such as China's geopolitical role, disputes with the US, and Brazil's challenges in the face of an increasingly multipolar world. Carvalho, who is a professor at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), and has lived and researched in China for more than a decade, pointed out that the Chinese model, based on a socialism of its own characteristics, can no longer be ignored.

"These words that were demonized in the 20th century there in the Cold War period, maybe they need to be discussed calmly," he said. "It's not about revisiting feelings or re-editing old models. The world is completely different. China's socialism has another characteristic."

The US-China Dispute and the Global Transition

In analyzing the geopolitical scenario, Evandro Carvalho described the US as a declining power, with difficulties to cope with China's rise. "The US will not cede the throne peacefully to China. Nor did it happen when the scepter of power passed from England to the US," he said.

He also highlighted the emergence of new diplomatic codes promoted by China, such as the concept of "community with a shared future for mankind" and the proposal of "whole-process people's democracy." For the professor, "countries like Brazil and China want greater democratization of the international system, while countries in the West, which call themselves examples of democracy, are very authoritarian at the international level."

According to Carvalho, this structural change in the international system, with greater participation from non-Western countries, should provoke profound transformations in the logic of global power.  "The BRICS already have a larger GDP than the G7. Countries like China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil are rising in the global pyramid, while Western countries are descending."

Brazil and China: a strategic partnership

For Evandro Carvalho, Brazil has the opportunity to take advantage of the partnership with China not only in terms of trade, but also in science, education and technological development. "Brazil had to embrace this proposal to get out of the grain into the minds," he said.

He said China could help Brazil break away from its dependence on agribusiness and advance in strategic areas such as space engineering and the health sector. 

Reflecting on Brazil's role in the new global arrangement, Carvalho stated that the country needs a "greater commitment to defending sovereignty," and that this will only be possible with the strengthening of education, national solidarity and the construction of a country project. "The reconstruction of a nation project, having as a great value our diversity, fits very well with the dialogue with China," he said.

Criticism of Liberalism and the Rescue of the Collective Project

Carvalho also criticized the emptying of liberal democracies, which in his view were captured by individualist power projects and private interests. 

"The far right demonizes communism and implodes democracy from within, but closes business with China in the morning and criticizes it at night," he said. "If China is our biggest trading partner, why not learn more about it and understand how its system works?"

In the end, Carvalho suggested that the Brazilian experience could enrich this debate, especially if the country revisits the ancestral knowledge of the original peoples. "The more I study Chinese philosophy, the more I see connections with our original peoples. The relationship between man and nature, for example, is present in the two universes," he said.

"We need to discuss these issues openly and calmly, to think about this contemporary world and position the country in the best possible way."

(Reported by Brasil 247 on July 31, 2025)