President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil is visiting Beijing this week, and China’s Xi Jinping will also meet top officials from other Latin American and Caribbean nations to emphasize their ties.

At a Beijing forum this week, China has cast itself as defender of the multilateral order and backer of the Global South, with Xi pledging $9.2 billion in credit toward development.

Leaders and officials from Latin America and the Caribbean have descended on the Chinese capital for the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum. Beijing has stepped up economic and political cooperation with Latin American nations in recent years and has urged a united front against US President Donald Trump's recent maelstrom of tariffs.