• Why has China invited Pedro Sánchez? Xi Jinping and his great diplomatic offensive, in which "Spain has always been a great support"
  • Visit Sanchez defends in China the need for "responsible and constructive" leaders in the face of "brutal and illegal aggression of Russia against Ukraine"

Pedro Sánchez will be received in Beijing with the honors reserved for official visits of the highest level in the Great Hall of the People, an emblematic building located in Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital. There the President of the Government of Spain will hold bilateral meetings with the three highest authorities of the Asian country to address different issues of international significance, among which the peace plan proposed by his counterpart Xi Jinping for Ukraine stands out.

The talks on the subject will be especially delicate since they will occur with an interlocutor who has defended that he maintains a "neutral position" in the face of the war conflict, which he refers to as "crisis" avoiding the word war, but that this Thursday has announced that he will strengthen his military collaboration with Russia. In fact, one of the issues that the Spanish president is going to ask is that he does not deliver weapons to Vladimir Putin in addition to defending that both the aggressor country and the victim of a "brutal and illegal invasion" cannot be placed on an equal footing.

Sánchez will be able to show his "seamless" support for Ukraine, which is also shared by the set of states of the European Union, before the Prime Minister of China, Li Quiang, with whom he will hold a meeting this Friday morning, followed by the signing of cooperation agreements between the two countries and a lunch. Later he will meet with Jingping himself and conclude the list of dialogues with the authorities of the second world power talking with the president of the National People's Congress, Zhao Leji.

These meetings will take place just after Beijing announced on Thursday that it will "deepen military trust" with Russia and that both countries "jointly safeguard international fairness and justice," according to a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense, reports Reuters. They have also pledged to "implement global security initiatives" and to improve their maritime and air collaboration.

With the shadow of this conflict hovering over his official visit, the head of the Government will complete his economic agenda with a group of Spanish businessmen based in the Asian nation and with another of local tour operators. The latter is precisely one of the specific issues that will be addressed within the framework of this international mission, since the objective of La Moncloa is for Spain to once again be a preferred destination for Chinese tourists after Beijing authorized the organization of group trips on March 15 after three years of border closure due to Covid.

Pandemic and economy

The pandemic is still very present in China, where visitors are required to perform a PCR at origin and confirmatory tests on arrival. However, little by little it is returning to normality of a country very hit by the virus that for the first time since 2020 has returned to hold in person its Boao Economic Forum, an annual reference event on the continent that is organized on the island of Hainan, in the south of the country.

Among the participants of this edition is Sánchez, who on Thursday has dedicated a part of his speech to denouncing that the war in Ukraine is causing "a serious humanitarian crisis, food insecurity, inflation and growing debt anguish in an increasing number of vulnerable countries." He has also stressed that for its resolution the presence of "responsible and constructive" actors is necessary, while praising the initiative of the Chinese leader to try to set himself up as a mediator in the search for peace before the announcement of the strengthening of its collaboration with Russia in military matters transcended.

Later the Spanish president has held bilateral meetings with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and with representatives of the highest level of the companies AstraZeneca and Mitsubishi before flying to Beijing. Although the official reason for Xi's invitation is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the moment in which it occurs has given it a dimension that transcends this bilaterality, especially when Madrid will hold the rotating Presidency of the European Union during the second quarter of this year.

"Europe and Asia must join forces to face global challenges and seize any opportunity to promote dialogue and cooperation," Sánchez stressed on Thursday. And, already in his role as a national leader, he stressed that Spain is one of the best places on the continent to invest and do business due to its "ideal geopolitical position, a robust private sector, a large digital and physical infrastructure, institutional stability and a highly qualified workforce".

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  • Russia
  • China
  • Ukraine
  • Xi Jinping
  • European Union
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Vladimir Putin
  • Articles Marta Belver