FILE PHOTO: Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo gestures before meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (not pictured) at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil July 25,2019. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil’s current government has never had any problem with China, the Brazilian foreign minister said on Friday, adding that the issue arose from how previous administrations handled relations with the world’s No. 2 economy, and Brazil’s top trade partner.

Speaking with reporters after a meeting with senior officials from China, Russia, India and South Africa during a BRICS meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Ernesto Araujo added that his country’s efforts to build better ties with the United States need not endanger links with China. “We never had an any issue with China. We had an issue with how Brazil itself was organizing, or not organizing its relationship with China,” he said.