Brasil e China: o Investimento Externo Direto chinês no Brasil e as relações comerciais Brasil-China à luz da Teoria Marxista da Dependência

Abstract

This paper investigates trade relations between Brazil and China and Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil, based on the Marxist Dependency Theory (DRT). The study covers the period from 1999 to 2023 for trade relations and from 2005 to 2023 for FDI, focusing on the analysis of these economic relations in relation to the Asian giant. Based on the DRT, which highlights the subordination of peripheral countries to economic centers, it is observed how Brazil reinforces its peripheral and dependent insertion, focusing on the export of primary products and on attracting Chinese investments in sectors such as energy and oil/gas and mining. The research highlights the lack of technological diversification in Brazilian exports and the predominance of commodities, which deepen the productive specialization of low added value. In addition, it is found that Chinese FDI is associated with a logic of market expansion and reinforcement in sectors linked to the export of primary goods and low technological intensity. Using the studies of Ruy Mauro Marini and Theotônio dos Santos, the work concludes that Brazil-China relations reproduce a pattern of structural dependence, in which Brazil continues to play a subordinate role, both in trade and investment.