Jose Miguel Blanco |
Boao (China) (EFE).- The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, offered Spain this Thursday in China as a “reliable” partner to be a destination for investment and to collaborate multilaterally in resolving conflicts and seeking peace.
The defense of these two aspects, the political and the economic, as an argument to trust Spain were the plot line of Sánchez’s intervention at the opening ceremony of the Boao Economic Forum.
A forum that hosts the Chinese island of Hainan, which is considered the Asian Davos and which was the first activity on Sánchez’s agenda during his visit to China during which he will meet in Beijing with the president, Xi Jinping; the prime minister, Li Qiang; and the president of the Chinese People’s Congress, Zhao Leji.
The war in Ukraine will be at the center of his meeting with Xi, especially as he is the first European leader to meet him after the Chinese president met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, and awaiting a possible contact. with the Ukrainian leader, Volodimir Zelensky.
But in his speech at the economic forum he already wanted to make his position clear by describing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as “brutal and illegal”.
longing for peace
He recalled that in a week he will have coincided with forty world leaders having participated in two summits of the European Union and of the Ibero-American countries and having traveled to China to meet with Xi.
And in all those forums, he said, he has heard the same yearning for peace, stability and prosperity and that no one wants economic fragmentation or war.
For the President of the Government, in the context of the war and its consequences, responsible and constructive actors are needed.
“And that is what Spain wants to be, a reliable and open country and an active member of all the major multilateral organizations,” he added.
In his opinion, it is necessary to rebuild trust through dialogue, solidarity and cooperation, and for this reason he welcomed the intensification of diplomatic contacts between the Chinese authorities and leaders from around the world because it reflects a high degree of responsibility and Spain wants to contribute to these efforts.
Straddling the political and economic aspect, he recalled that Spain will assume the presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year and stressed that Europe and China must compete in some areas and cooperate in others.
But he assured that the EU will continue to defend its values and principles with an independent perspective and will not give up on them.
Sánchez, who defended free, balanced and fair trade, rejected protectionist trends and alluded to business cooperation, recalling that there are recent investments by large Chinese construction groups in Spanish engineering companies that are creating opportunities for the development of joint projects in America America and encouraged to continue deepening in it “respecting the sovereignty of each country and respecting the rules.
open middle
That, he explained, implies providing a stable regulatory framework that allows domestic and foreign companies to compete on equal terms.
“It means opening up the East so that the West does not have to close in on itself,” he added, before noting that relations between Europe and China need not be adversarial, but that there is ample scope for win-win cooperation.
He cited three areas in this collaboration: reinforcing multilateralism because “no problem can be solved unilaterally”, accelerating the fight against climate change and achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals.
He stopped at relations between Spain and China to point out that much has changed since they were established fifty years ago and to explain that bilateral trade doubled between 2017 and 2022 to reach 57.7 billion euros.
He also highlighted that China is Spain’s number one supplier and the largest market in Asia for Spanish companies and that the number of Chinese citizens and companies visiting or working in Spain is increasing significantly.
Reasons to invest
“This happens because today Spain is one of the best places in Europe to invest and do business,” stressed Sánchez, who considered that the country has an ideal geopolitical position at the intersection of three continents, a solid private sector, digital infrastructure first class, highly qualified workforce, clean and affordable energy, institutional stability and legal certainty.
He took the opportunity to exhibit Spain’s economic growth above the eurozone average, the lowest inflation in the EU and all-time highs for foreign investment.
“World investors are betting on Spain (…) Today more than ever -he added- the world economy needs reliable partners in which to trust and Spain is and will be one of them”.
