On 13 May 2020, the Chinese embassy in Brasília sent a letter to the members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil.[1] The letter termed Tsai Ing-wen as the "local leader" of Taiwan, and asked the Chamber of Deputies to "educate" its members on the Taiwan issue in accordance with Brazil's commitment to the One-China policy. It also asked the members to refrain from taking part in Tsai's swearing-in ceremony as the President of Taiwan after her victory in the 2020 elections, sending congratulatory messages to Taiwanese authorities or maintaining official contacts with them.[2] The letter was leaked on Twitter on 26 May 2020 by Paulo Eduardo Martins, a Brazilian deputy from the Social Christian Party. The authenticity of the letter was confirmed by the Lusa News Agency.[2] Martins termed it as an "affront", and sent a congratulatory message to Tsai. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) replied to his tweet, saying that the Taiwanese government and people "sincerely appreciate the friendship and support of Brazil."[3] MOFA spokesperson Joanne Ou thanked Martins for safeguarding democratic values, adding that democracy is a mutual value shared by both Taiwan and Brazil.[4]
Martins's tweet triggered a Twitter trend, #VivaTaiwan ('Long Live Taiwan'), by Brazilian netizens. It became the top trend globally on 26 May 2020, and led to many tweets in support of the Taiwan independence movement.[3] [5] Martins's tweet was retweeted by Brazilian politician Eduardo Bolsonaro.[6]
LSE IDEAS associate Charles Dunst said that the incident marks an end of the non-interventionist Chinese foreign policy.[7] Indian author Sandipan Deb said that the response by Brazilian netizens was a "little samba setback" to the Chinese concept of tianxia.[8]