Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is visiting China from April 12-15, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday, and the president will visit Huawei Technologies Co. on Thursday, according to two individuals familiar with the plans.

Lula, 77, will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing to discuss trade and Ukraine mediation, having overcome pneumonia that forced him to postpone the trip that had been set for earlier.

The trip, which comes a little over a month after Lula visited Joe Biden in the United States, demonstrates the significance the leftist leader places on both nations, which are Brazil's two greatest commercial partners. His visit to Huawei suggests that he will not take sides in the US-China trade war.

Lula's visit to China follows a similar tour by France's Emmanuel Macron, who encouraged Europe to build more strategic autonomy, including independence from the US currency.

After Lula, Chinese authorities will receive Elon Musk, who is expected to visit Tesla Inc.'s Shanghai plant, according to individuals familiar with the preparations.

Lula's journey to China is part of the leader's attempt to resurrect Brazil's multilateralism heritage, which was largely abandoned under previous President Jair Bolsonaro.

On April 5th, Brazil's Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira told reporters that Brazil desires close and good relations with "everyone, everywhere."

Vieira stressed that the US should not view his prospective visit to Huawei as a provocation, explaining that “If the president visits other countries, he’ll likely visit other companies."

Lula's visit to Huawei was prompted by an invitation from the firm, which has been present in Brazil for over 20 years.

In 2021, just as the US Federal Communications Commission listed Huawei as a technology business posing an "unacceptable risk" to national security, the company won an auction to supply equipment for the deployment of 5G technology across Brazil.

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Lula to invite Xi to come to Brazil

Speaking on the eve of his departure to China, the Brazilian President said he would invite his Chinese counterpart to Brazil.

"I am going to invite Xi Jinping to come to Brazil, for a bilateral meeting, to get to know Brazil, to show him the projects that we have of interest for Chinese investment," Lula said in an interview with state-owned broadcasting company EBC, pointing out that he is planning to "consolidate" the relationship with China.

"What we want is for the Chinese to make investments to generate new jobs and generate new productive assets in Brazil," he indicated.

Officials in Beijing also see Brazil -- a leader in the global south -- as a keystone in their strategic and economic plans.

Last week, China hosted a forum for 500 Brazilian and Chinese business people that resulted in the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements.

One of those was to allow business transactions between the two countries to be carried out in reais and yuan rather than US dollars.

The deal to ditch the US dollar is expected to reduce investment costs and develop economic ties between the two countries, Brazil's Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) pointed out.

Bilateral trade between the two countries reached a record of more than $150 billion in 2022.

Brazil was also the main destination for Chinese investment in Latin America from 2007 to 2020, worth $70 billion according to the Brazil-China Business Council.

From Beijing, Lula will travel to Shanghai, where his domestic political ally Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded him as president in 2011, recently took over as head of the New Development Bank, also known as the BRICS bank.

During Lula's last two terms, from 2003-10, Brazil joined Russia, India, China, and South Africa in creating the BRICS group of emerging economies.

On his way home, Lula will also visit the United Arab Emirates.