The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will meet on March 31 with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, during the official visit that he will make next week to the Asian giant, at a key moment in Western relations with China and his role in contributing to the resolution of the Ukrainian war. Sánchez, who assumes the presidency of the European Union on July 1, will in fact be the first European president to meet the Chinese president, after Xi’s recently concluded visit to Moscow to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine.
The Spanish president will arrive in China on March 30, next Thursday, to participate in the Boao Economic Forum –the Asian version of the Davos Forum–, in Hainan, and from there he will travel to Beijing for the official meeting with the president Chinese the next day. The role assumed by China in recent months in resolving the invasion of Ukraine – during his visit to Moscow the Chinese leader presented his peace proposal to the Russian president – and the coincidence of the trip with the imminent Spanish presidency of the EU multiply the importance of this meeting, which will be the highlight of the very intense international activity that awaits Pedro Sánchez in the coming weeks, once the second vote of no confidence by Vox has been passed and before the Spanish presidency of the Union begins.
This was confirmed yesterday by the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, who alluded to the role of China, “key in its possible mediation in the war in Ukraine”, and highlighted the commercial and economic aspect of this state visit, every time Sánchez will participate , together with other leaders and a group of Spanish businessmen, at the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
The president, who yesterday attended the European Council in Brussels, in which the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, was present, had breakfast with the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, and held a meeting prior to the council with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, –visiting the good state of relations between Madrid and Berlin–. It will also participate in the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit in the Dominican Republic, which starts today in Santo Domingo, with the aim of strengthening relations between the EU and Latin America, a summit attended by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs for the first time. and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. Although the war in Ukraine does not appear on the summit’s agenda, Borrell will try to bring the European position on the matter closer to Latin American dignitaries.
The countries of Latin America, with the exceptions of Venezuela and Nicaragua, have positioned themselves against the Russian invasion, but maintaining a principle of non-interference and advocating from the beginning for a quick peace. Sánchez plans, during this summit, to hold bilateral meetings with the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, and that of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves. The summit, in which the recently re-elected Brazilian president Lula da Silva is expected to participate, has the particularity that for the first time in many years it brings together progressive leaders of a markedly reformist nature, more aligned with the current Spanish government.
This trip, in which King Felipe VI will also participate, as usual, is also key to preparing for the July summit between the EU, already under the Spanish presidency, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), whose The purpose is to revive relations between the two continents after years of cooling commercial and political relations. In this sense, the July meeting is one of the most relevant milestones of the semester of the Spanish presidency.
After returning from China, Pedro Sánchez will chain visits on April 4 and 5 to Italy, Malta and Cyprus, on a Mediterranean micro-tour, also prior to the EU presidency. An intense agenda to underline the international profile of Pedro Sánchez when the war in Ukraine can enter the resolution phase. And a month away from regional and municipal elections that are intended to take the electoral temperature before the general elections in December.
