BRASILIA - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has cancelled a high-profile trip to China due to medical reasons, and the March 27-31 visit will be rescheduled for a later date, his press secretary said on Saturday.
The press secretary released a medical note stating that after a clinical evaluation, the 77-year-old Lula was diagnosed with bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia caused by influenza A, and treatment has been initiated.
But doctors suggested he put off the trip, which entails some 20 hours of flight time, after a new exam on Saturday.
"Despite the improvement in his condition, the president's medical service recommends that the China trip be postponed" until Lula is no longer contagious, physician Ana Helena Germoglio said, according to the government statement.
The Brazilian government has informed the Chinese authorities of the postponement and its intention to reschedule the visit.
Lula, who succeeded the far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro and took office in January, had hoped to use the six-day trip next week to reclaim his country's role in global diplomacy, with discussions in Beijing expected to focus on reinforcing trade and the war in Ukraine AFP reported.
The Brazilian leader is keen to position the South American nation as a go-between –like he did during his second term, from 2003 to 2010, during nuclear discussions between Iran and the US, AFP reported.
However, his diplomatic stock took a hit last year when he came under fire for claiming that President Volodymyr Zelensky was "as responsible" for the war in Ukraine as Putin.
He has also refused to join Western nations in sending weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself.
Just three months into his latest term as president, Lula has already visited the United States in February and Argentina.
No new date was given for Lula's trip, which was to include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday and was viewed as a significant effort by the new leftist president to enhance relations with Brazil's largest trading partner.
Bolsonaro also visited China, but that relationship soured after he joined then-US president Donald Trump in blaming Beijing for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lula was initially scheduled to travel on Saturday, but had postponed his departure to Sunday after being diagnosed with mild pneumonia.
He was going to travel with a large delegation including a half-dozen cabinet ministers, plus governors, lawmakers and 240 business leaders. More than a third of the business leaders were from Brazil's farm sector, which sends the lion's share of its beef, soybeans and wood pulp to China.
With the cancellation, attention now turns to the presentation of an eagerly awaited fiscal framework in Brazil, which was initially promised by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad for this month, but was postponed by Lula until after the China trip.
Haddad, who originally was to have travelled with Lula, will no longer go to China, according to his press office.
The new framework is considered essential to addressing fiscal concerns after Lula secured congressional approval for a multibillion-deal package that circumvents the constitutional spending cap to boost social spending and fulfill his campaign promises.
Lula's health has been a source of concern in recent years, AFP reported.
In November, Lula had surgery to remove a lesion from his vocal cords.
The president was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2011, shortly after he left the presidency. He went into remission after undergoing treatment.
REUTERS and AFP