Melissa Cambuhy said her career moves — from the public sphere with a focus on the Brazil-China-Latin America relationship to going to Shenzhen to work and give support to Chinese enterprises investing in Brazil — are closely related to Chinese President Xi Jinping's Global Governance Initiatives.
At the end of August, she is moving from Brazil to China to head a Brazilian law office in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
Prior to joining the private sector, Cambuhy served as Brazil-China cooperation coordinator at the Lula Institute, head of institutional and government affairs for China Media Group Latin America, and president of the Institute BRICS+ for Cultural and Economic Integration.
In her capacity, she helped to put together seven governmental cooperation agreements between China and Brazil.
Xi's Global Governance Initiatives promote global development under a United Nations-centered, more representative multilateral system. Those initiatives have benefited Brazil, according to Cambuhy.
"China has been a key partner for us to navigate this unstable international environment," Cambuhy said.
China has absorbed Brazilian products such as coffee and meat that were heavily impacted by US tariffs, she said, and the situation pushed Brazil to develop closer economic ties with China. In the case of agricultural products, Brazil has taken over the US as the largest soybean exporter to China.
"I think that it's a good moment for China to build a bridge with Brazil and produce high value products from strategic sectors," she said. "I've been having discussions about this with Chinese enterprises because I am convinced that would be safer for Brazil."
Cambuhy said Xi's idea of international governance — a global community with a shared future — is something Brazil wants to build. "It's our opportunity to build," she said.
Xi's ideas of international governance are concrete, Cambuhy said, because they have both ideological and materialistic dimensions.
"When you propose a global community with a shared future, it's not just an idea, it's real because you are a real important partner to almost all the countries in the world," she said.
Cambuhy sees China as a global power that is now responsible for what remains of global economic and political stability.
"In material dimension, when we think about the trading partners around the world, China has major investments in production and infrastructure globally. China is a safe partner in commercial exchanges and investments," she said.
The dynamic change made Brazil the largest destination for FDI Chinese investment in 2025, Cambuhy said.
It presented her the business opportunity to fully utilize her training as a lawyer and her working experiences in the public sector of Brazil-China relations.
"Shenzhen is my new home, and I'm really excited," she said from Brazil about two weeks before her end-of-August move. "We want to give support to the Chinese enterprises that want to come to Brazil."
