Sanchez plays strong with China | Spain
From the beginning it was clear that this was not any visit. The Spanish delegation listened surprised by the explanation of Xi Jinping, one of the most powerful men in the world, always cold, imperial, unattainable. It was the third time they were with him in three years, and this was very different from the previous ones. The Chinese president was telling them that the yellow dishes in which they served the food, very delicate, belonged to the Chinese imperial family, and is only used for very special guests. It was planned that the appointment would last two hours, and went to three. And XI seemed close, with a very different tone from the two previous visits. He even launched some sarcastic joke with the background of his tension with Washington.
It was evident, because of his political speech and for his gestures, that XI was very aware of the risky bet Pedro Sánchez had done by going to Beijing at a time, in the middle of the commercial war with the US. The Chinese leader knew the attack against Spain of the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besunt, who came to say that if Spain approached China now « it would be like cutting off the neck »and valued that Sanchez maintained the course and trip despite those threats.
The Spanish delegation was Very clear that Xi is not going to give in to Donald Trump. In the midst of that imperial palace, surrounded by history, with that special dishes on the table, Xi made them a very clear speech that other leaders are also launching in public: China has 5,000 years of history, USA 250. China lived thousands of years without the US, and will do it again, they think of Beijing. If Washington wants to isolate, China will bet on its domestic market and find other partners. His conception of time is very different. When all this Trump fever passes, China will continue there, or do XI. « We are not going to allow us not to respect us, » he told them.
He explained that they are strong and great, and although they do not want this war, that they have not started, they can endure with internal consumption. He told them that the European Union can also resist, if you want. Not so the smallest countries. That is why the Chinese leader plans next week a trip to Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, The country from which Sánchez came before arriving in Beijingto ask them to endure, to offer them help. Unlike China, Vietnam has not responded to Trump tariffs of 46%, and is asking for a negotiation. 30% of its GDP depends on exports to the American giant. Multinationals like Nike have the bulk of their production there. XI’s commitment is clear: to leave Washington isolated, unite the rest of the world to continue trading as before with or without the US.
Xi did not announce it there, before his foreign guests, but as soon as he finished the meeting with the Spaniards, his government made public that raised the tariffs to the US to 125%. The Spanish delegation was very clear in Beijing: « This goes for long. It will not reach armed conflict, nobody wants it, but the commercial war will be very hard and it will not be China that gives way, » they said among them.
Sanchez insists that he He has not taken sides between China and the USA. The Spanish president remains neutral and calls the dialogue. « I have transferred to President XI that the world needs China and the US to speak, » he said at the press conference in Beijing. Spain, insists, wants the best relations with Washington, historical ally, and with Beijing, referent of the new world order. But the trip is the message. While Giorgia Meloni, Trump’s ultra -right -wing ally, goes to Washington this week to look for the closeness of the US president, and to try to make a bridge between the EU and the tycoon, Sánchez went to Beijing.
The trip began to prepare months ago, long before the commercial war was unleashed. Sanchez gave a clear instruction to his international team as soon as he returned from the previous jump to Beijing, in September 2024: « I want to go to China every year, look for a date for the next. » The president wants to do like other European leaders, such as Angela Merkel, who came to go to China 12 times.
Faced with the criticism of the PP, La Moncloa remembers that Mariano Rajoy also traveled to China, including Alberto Núñez Feijóo as president of the Xunta de Galicia. In 2013, María Dolores de Cospedal went to China as general secretary of the PP and came to sign a « memorandum of understanding, exchange and cooperation » between the PP and the Communist Party of China.
The reality is that the trip came at the most symbolic moment, and far from postponing it, As the PP claimedSánchez decided to make the most of it. « A country with a foreign policy with its own identity such as Spain has to look at China while having a good relationship with Washington, » Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares explained on the trip. « Spanish foreign policy is not against anyone, » Sánchez insisted.
In the government they assure that, despite the Building of the US Treasury Secretarywhich attribute to a moment of relaxation at a dinner, and not to an official position, Washington has not protested for the trip or has shown any intention to retaliate. Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, spoke with Albares when he already knew that he would go to Beijing and did not transfer any discomfort. « It would be a lack of respect for Spanish sovereignty. No one can tell us where we can travel. Things are not so crude, » they point out in the Spanish delegation.
In the Spanish government, it has surprised even more than territorial leaders of the PP, such as the Andalusian Juanma Moreno, or even of the PSOE as Emiliano García-Page-although slightly-criticize the opportunity of the trip to China. Because one of the things that Sanchez did, more discreetly, was to meet with Chinese businessmen who have investments in Spain or are planning to have them. And the beneficiaries will be precisely the autonomies in which the factories are installed. « And as the PP governs in almost all autonomies, because surely this positively affects communities controlled by the PP, » summary in the government. In fact, two of the largest Chinese investments already planned are in Extremadura and Aragon, in the hands of the PP, and there are others that are being forged for other popular autonomies.
In the Moncloa they do not understand this short play of the PP, and attribute it to the Vox pressure. “I understand that they descoque that Sánchez, who they hate, is the one who has all the prominence because he is on the key day in a decisive place, in Beijing. But the reality is that we are looking foror Chinese investments in Spain and export facilities for Spanish companies in China. It is our work. It is what entrepreneurs ask us. If the US closes, horizons must be opened. It is logical, and if the PP looks a little more in the long term, it should support it, ”summarizes a government member.
Sanchez always plays strong. Obviously in Moncloa they are aware that every high -level maneuver has risks, and this Approach to China too. No one is fooled. The Chinese are not easy partners. They put a thousand problems for the entry of foreign companies in their market. When they leave them, it is with Chinese partners to keep their technology and copy it or even improve it, to be stronger later. They are very hard negotiators, everything is very slow and absolutely centralized: the government controls all movements. Entrepreneurs do not move without authorization from the Executive. The risk is also that now, when the US market is closed, cheap Chinese products – and in general the Asians – flood the European market. They also spoke with XI, who assured them that it will not be so. But it is difficult not to happen.
Nothing is easy with China, with which Spain, and Europe, plays with great disadvantage: the commercial deficit is huge. In 2024, Spain bought assets worth 45,000 million euros and sold only for 7,500. 94% of the Spanish commercial deficit is explained by China. But at the same time, Sánchez believes, and made it clear in his message, that once the US closes, Europe cannot live on its back to China, which continues to bet on multilateralism, for the World Trade Organization, for some basic things that the EU likes and that Trump is breaking. « Obviously China is not the panacea. The world is complicated. But if the US closes, a serious government has to look at China. You have to look for the best possible relationship. Sánchez has shown that he is a leader who has entrance in Beijing, and that it is in all relevant decision centers in Europe. That is a key value at a time. of the Executive.
The PP, however, has squeezed the accelerator of criticism for Sánchez for the trip to China, convinced that it will have wear. Feijóo, as usual, plays all the letters at the same time: criticizes Trump, but asks not to get away from Washington. He criticizes Vox for being with the US president, but at the same time avoids breaking and negotiating with them the autonomic budgets. In the Government they continue to think that the PP is very disrupted in international politics. The popular insisted, for example, that in Europe there was rejection of Sánchez’s trip at this time. But the president spoke before and had also planned to do it later with Úrsula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. And she has already confirmed that in July she will be in Beijing for an UE-China Summit. Sanchez insists that this is totally alienated with Brussels. And that’s why he is sure that Feijóo will stay out of play with these criticism.
In the PP, in any case, they continue to think that the elections will not be decided due to international policy issues. Sánchez’s wear and especially adding, insist, goes on the other hand, and has to do with internal policy. And it will continue to grow. In the Moncloa they do not agree: they believe that the press is enough to see every day to realize that Trump invades everything, and the way of reacting to this challenge of each leader will count a lot when there are elections. Because citizens have understood that this is not something alien, but the most important ideological battle, which decides how the world of the next 80 years will be, now that Trump breaks with what has been the world order of the previous 80. And that is where, again, Sánchez plays strong and marks a clear profile against Trump, even with a challenge as to stand in Beijing. While Feijóo seems to continue thinking that this is not his battle.
