China's President Xi Jimping has been in Brazil the last few days in an effort to improve relations with Latin America, which China sees as a valuable future ally, according to Channel News Asia.

Xi spoke Thursday in front of Brazil's Congress, offering Latin America an alternate ally to the U.S.

"China is willing to combine efforts with Brazil and other countries in the region to become good friends and allies in a shared destiny, and walk in sync," Xi said in Brazil on Wednesday.

The offer of increased cooperation comes just a day after the BRICS nations announced that they would be forming a $100 billion development bank, after a summit in Brazil.

The BRICS nations are made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Xi was in Latin America for a BRICS summit earlier this week and next will hold a China-Latin America forum with CELAC, a 33-nation group from South America and the Caribbean.

"China is an option that matches with the leftist political sympathy that it has with some countries in the region," said Rubens Figueiredo, a foreign relations professor at Sao Paulo University. "It is looking for a different economic role from that of the United State and Europe."

One way Xi has devised to strengthen Chinese relations with Latin America is to build a transcontinental railroad across South America, according to First Post.

Xi met with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala on Wednesday and suggested that China, Peru and Brazil create a group to put in motion the railroad. The China Daily, a state-run publication, said the group would guide planning, design, construction and operation of the railroad.

The railway is proposed to run from Peru's west coast to Brazil's east coast and experts say executing such a project would go a long way in establishing goodwill toward the Chinese.

"The possibility of building a railway from Peru to Brazil, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as major road and river connection projects, is quite intriguing and an obvious area for overseas foreign direct investment on the part of China," said Jon Taylor, a professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.