Madrid (EFE).- The head of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will begin his official trip to China this Wednesday during which he will meet with the country’s president, Xi Jinping, and learn first-hand about the peace approach to the war in Ukraine which he transferred to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Sánchez will be the first European leader to meet Xi after that meeting with Putin, and the situation in Ukraine will be a central issue at the meeting, although the visit is part of the 50th anniversary of relations between Spain and China and will also have a strong economic character.
Boao Economic Forum
The Prime Minister’s first stop will be the island of Hainan to participate in the Boao Economic Forum, considered the Asian Davos, and in which he will meet other leaders such as the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiang, with whom he will meet daily Next in Beijing.
After that meeting with Li, it will be when he meets with the Chinese president and they talk, among other things, about the approach to peace that Xi conveyed to Putin and in which Sánchez has said that he sees interesting aspects.
But if Sánchez already advanced days ago that any peace dialogue must start from the conditions raised by Ukraine, the Government ensures that it will emphasize that it does not share the equidistance of China before the parties in conflict.
In his opinion, it is clear that there is an aggressor, Putin’s Russia, and a country that has been attacked, Ukraine, and he will reiterate this to Xi, insisting that this is a position that the European Union unanimously supports.
The defense of this common position does not mean, however, that he travels as a mediator or as a spokesman for the EU.
Faced with the possibility that the Government is going to contact the Ukrainian president’s entourage, Volodímir Zelenksi, on the occasion of this visit, official sources affirm that there are continuous contacts and that in Ukraine they know what the Spanish position is.
The Executive would like a conversation between the Chinese president and Zelenski to come true after Xi’s meeting with Putin.
The head of government also plans to present to the Chinese leader some of his priorities for the Spanish presidency of the EU in the second half of this year and address other issues such as the fight against climate change, food security or the debt crisis.
Meeting with the IMF manager
From the economic point of view, Sánchez will take advantage of the Boao Forum to meet with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva, and with representatives of Mitsubishi and Astrazeneca given the possibility that they may develop new investments in Spain.
In Beijing, he will meet with Spanish businessmen settled in China and with representatives of Chinese tour operators to promote group tourist visits to Spain after the authorities have already lifted the ban that existed due to the pandemic.
Within the framework of trade relations (China is the leading supplier to Spain with a very favorable balance for the Asian country), Sánchez will discuss with some of his interlocutors the situation of access for Spanish meat exports to China.
Spain also hopes that non-tariff barriers on its agri-food products can be softened.