Spain-China: PM Sanchez in Beijing for Summit with President Xi Jinping
Sanchez's three-day visit comes amid acute tensions between the European Union and China after Brussels imposed temporary tariffs on Chinese electric cars
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s mission to China began on Monday, September 9. He arrived in Beijing on a three-day official visit.
Beijing, where the Spanish head of government will preside over the opening of the 9th Spain-China Forum, a platform of public diplomacy between the two countries whose last meeting was held in Madrid back in 2015, will become the first stop on a journey aimed at strengthening bilateral political, economic, and trade relations at a time of strong tensions between the European Union and the world’s second largest economy.
During talks with Prime Minister Li Qiang and then Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sanchez will raise the sensitive issue of the trade deficit Spain has accumulated with the Asian giant and present a plan aimed at boosting Chinese investment in Spain.
Sanchez told Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang that “in a world with great opportunities and challenges, Spain wants to continue strengthening its relationship with China to give full meaning to the global strategic partnership.” Spain “wants to build bridges to jointly defend a fair trade order, with the most careful respect for the multilateral framework and maintaining the openness of our markets, which will allow our economies to grow and benefit our industry and our citizens,” emphasized the Spanish Prime Minister.
Amid tensions between China and Germany, Beijing’s former number one partner in Europe, Sanchez, accompanied by Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez, will also try to strengthen relations at the political level: according to some sources in the Spanish government, “the visit shows that Beijing considers Madrid a partner of growing interest within the EU and demonstrates its willingness to engage in regular political contacts.”
“Our goal is to maintain the political momentum of bilateral relations, strengthen economic and trade relations, and support Spanish culture, education, and science in China,” Sanchez wrote in a post on X social media.
After opening the Spain-China Forum and participating in a meeting of the Business Advisory Council made up of 15 Spanish and 21 Chinese companies, Sánchez will be received by Prime Minister Li Qiang, with whom he will subsequently preside over the signing of several economic and commercial agreements.
Sanchez will then fly to Shanghai late Monday night, where a business meeting between Spain and China will open on Tuesday.
“China is willing to use Prime Minister Sanchez’s visit as an opportunity to promote bilateral relations, deepen mutual trust through high-level exchanges, and address global challenges through high-quality cooperation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said earlier.
The Spanish Prime Minister’s visit comes amid tensions between the EU and China over various dossiers: in July, Brussels imposed preliminary tariffs on Chinese electric cars exported to markets in the Old Continent, and the European Commission said that “Chinese companies receive unfairly generous state subsidies that allow them to keep prices low.”
In response, Beijing filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization “to protect the rights and interests of electric vehicle industry development and cooperation in global green transformation.” In addition, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it has launched an “anti-dumping investigation” against imports of “pork and pork by-products” from the European Union, paving the way for trade restrictions in a very “sensitive” sector for Spain and some other EU countries.
