China wants to deal with the European Union as a partner instead of a rival, its ambassador to Spain said, amid shifting geopolitics and Washington’s new trade policy which he described as unilateral economic abuse.
China wants to deal with the European Union as a partner instead of a rival, its ambassador to Spain said, amid shifting geopolitics and Washington’s new trade policy which he described as unilateral economic abuse.
Yeah, China and Spain appear to have good relationships. Spain’s PM Pedro Sanchez visited China just last week again, after his visits in 2024 and 2023.
One of Mr. Sanchez’s trusted figures regarding China-relations is former PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), who co-founded the Gate Center, a Spanish-Chinese organization aiming to strenghten the two countries’ ties., together with Chinese businessman Du Fangyong.
Mr. Zapatero has also acted as an intermediary to improve the image of Chinese company Huawei in Spain. The partner of Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares was vice president of Huawei Spain, and Esteban González Pons, deputy secretary general of Spain’s People’s Party (PP), supported Huawei’s participation in European technological infrastructure projects.
In 2021, another PP politician, MEP Gabriel Mato supported the EU-China Investment Agreement, highlighting its potential to open the Chinese economy to European investors and promote what he called “fairer conditions” (Mr. Mato did not elaborate about Beijing’s conditions for foreign investments in China, though). Last year, in 2024, Juanma Moreno, the president of the Spanish region of Andalusia, also made an official visit to China.
None of them ever discussed human rights issues, though.