Photo/Illutration Visiting Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, left, meets with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, in Brasilia on Jan. 9. (Provided by Foreign Ministry)

BRASILIA--Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi blasted the Brazilian rioters who stormed the presidential palace and government facilities, and he expressed support for democratically elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have been rioting because they reject the results of last year’s presidential election.

Hayashi, who met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Jan. 9, said the rioting is “unacceptable because it constitutes a threat to democracy through the use of violence.”

Hayashi spent most of his speaking time, though, talking up the prospects of improving relations and trade between Japan and Brazil, and warning of the perils of an increasingly divided world.

He said there is “huge potential” for strengthening economic ties and expressed hope for further cooperation on food, energy and mineral resources.

He also said he hopes the measures proposed by the Lula administration to improve the business environment will encourage Japanese companies to further expand their investment in Brazil.

“We want to promote cooperation across a wide range of areas by energizing dialogue between our two nations,” Vieira said.

Hayashi spoke to Brazilian diplomats later the same day and said the world is standing at a “crossroads in history.”

Hayashi indicated countries such as Russia and China have recently attempted to unilaterally change the international status quo by force.

“It is our responsibility toward future generations to expand a ‘ring of solidarity connected by the rule of law’ to protect such fundamental values as freedom, democracy and human rights under an international order based on the rule of law,” Hayashi said.

He said Central and South American nations would be “important partners” in that endeavor.

Hayashi called for a thorough review of global governance efforts in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“We must reflect on the fact that the current international system was unable to stop the outrageous acts by Russia,” he said.

Japan and Brazil now serve together as nonpermanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Hayashi urged cooperation between the two nations to make 2023 a year when like-minded nations join under “the ideals and principles of the U.N. Charter” and the “rule of law.”

Hayashi said creating a “ring of solidarity” among likeminded countries could protect the globe from worsening economic disparity, poverty and environmental destruction.

He said there is a need to strengthen the global economic order to prevent damaging the sovereignty of nations and their people through coercive economic pressure--a clear criticism of the debt trap China has been accused of creating by building social infrastructure in developing nations through having them shoulder huge loans.

Hayashi said he hopes to cooperate with Central and South American nations to strengthen the supply chain and secure minerals, energy and food products.

Hayashi is currently on a tour of Central and South America designed to bring Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina closer into the circle of Western nations and away from Russia and China.

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