The President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, received yesterday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing the head of the Spanish Executive, Pedro Sánchez, as the culmination of his first official visit to the Asian colossus. In his words of welcome, Xi, who last week held a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, made no express references to the war in Ukraine; although he did show his willingness to “make contributions to peace”. Sánchez did denounce Putin’s “illegal and unjust war” before the Chinese leader and defended the peace plan proposed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom the head of the Spanish Executive met in Kyiv on February 23.
“We are in a time when tensions are accumulating in different corners of the planet. In Europe, we are re-acquainting ourselves with the horrors of an illegal and unjust war, and therefore it is time for dialogue and the defense of a multilateral order based on rules,” Sánchez asked Xi. “To achieve this goal, we must keep the channels of communication open, to build our trust through positive agendas and with collaboration on the issues that concern us all”, he pointed out. “Nothing replaces direct contacts between the authorities and the leaders of the countries. It is very important that, despite the differences, we look for spaces for dialogue and also for concertation”, he said.
The Spanish president advocated in this way to respect “the sovereignty of each country and also the rules”. Sánchez recalled that Xi “knows what the Spanish position is”. “We must continue to bet on peace, and this peace must be just, lasting, as expressed in the United Nations charter. And it must respect the principles of the international order: the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the attacked country, as President Zelenski claims in his formula for peace, which Spain supports”, he assured. The Spanish president thanked the “sincere exchange” they had about “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”.
Beyond the bilateral relationship and the relaunch of commercial and economic agreements between Spain and China, in terms of global geopolitics, Pedro Sánchez has coordinated his strategy with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who will soon he will also visit Xi Jinping in Beijing, as will the high representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell; the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, or the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. “It is neither viable nor suitable for Europe’s interests to disengage from China,” Von der Leyen warned on Thursday, although she nonetheless called for “de-risking” through diplomacy in the face of the pretense of Beijing to “change the world order”.
For his part, Xi Jinping conveyed to Sánchez his greetings for King Felipe VI, and also bet to relaunch relations with Spain. “Spain has been one of the best countries in the economic growth of the EU”, stressed Xi. “We will share opportunities and challenges to further promote bilateral development,” added the Chinese leader.
According to the DPA agency, which collected information from Chinese television, the president defended before Sánchez the need to end the sanctions against Russia and to eliminate “the cold war mentality and the confrontation of blocs”. And he asked for a more balanced security architecture, with reference to NATO.
The international agenda focused the day, but in the subsequent press conference the President of the Central Government, asked about the conviction of Laura Borrà s, suspended Speaker of the Parliament, considered that “it is important to remember that hers is a flagrant case of prevarication and misuse of public resources”, which is interpreted as a knock on the door of the head of the Executive to the pardon that the same sentencing court requested in its resolution, in which it condemned the leader of Junts four and a half years in prison and thirteen years of special disqualification. The president pointed out that it is necessary to be respectful of the procedure, since the sentence of the TSJC “must now be raised to the Supreme Court, then different instances of the Rule of Law must be pronounced, and after that it will be subject of discussion in the Council of Ministers”. But he made it clear that he does have a position on the issue.
Like the leader of the Spanish Socialists, Salvador Illa reminded Borrà s that the Parliament is “above her” and that no one has the right to “drag the institutions”, so she urged the president of Junts to ” assume the principle of reality” and admit that “she has been convicted of corruption”. If he doesn’t, added Illa, “the PSC will not stand idly by.”
In the same ranks of Junts, Magda Oranich, who heads the guarantees commission, also suggested the resignation of Borrà s: “In this situation, if I were her I would resign”, said the veteran lawyer, for whom this decision may should have been taken earlier.
But Borrà s disobeyed and demanded from RAC1 to be reinstated as president of the Catalan Chamber: “They could suspend me from my duties, but not from my meaning or my responsibility. Today the president of the Parliament is called Laura Borrà s, because there is no other”, he exclaimed.
