Xi and Sanchez highlight strengthened cooperation as Spain pivots from US

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed the need for China and Spain to strengthen cooperation in fields including trade, new energy and technology, and to encourage exchanges in culture, education, scientific research and sports.

Xi made the remarks during a meeting with Pedro Sanchez on the Spanish Prime Minister's fourth official visit to China in as many years.

The Chinese President noted that despite a shifting and turbulent international landscape, China and Spain have maintained a steady relationship, forging ties with strategic determination.

He said deepening cooperation was in the interests of the two peoples, enhancing the strength and confidence of both sides in following a path of independence and self-reliance.

Xi said: "China is firmly resolved to advance Chinese modernization and has a broad vision to share development opportunities with the world through high-standard opening up."

Mutual trust

Referring to current international turmoil, Xi said China and Spain, as countries of principle and moral integrity, should enhance communication, consolidate mutual trust and strengthen cooperation to oppose the world's regression to the "law of the jungle."

He emphasized that both countries should safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, promoting an equal and orderly multipolar world. 

In response, Sanchez agreed that Europe and China must forge closer ties to counter threats to multilateralism.

Sanchez's visit to China comes as many Western governments are seeking warmer ties with Beijing, with discomfort growing over the policies of US President Donald Trump.

He is the latest of a string of leaders from Britain, Canada, Finland and Ireland to visit China this year.

Spain has been one of Europe's loudest proponents of expanding trade and treating China as a strategic ally, rather than the economic and geopolitical rival seen by Trump.

Sanchez has urged the world's second-biggest economy to take a larger role on issues from climate change to security, defence and the fight against inequality, saying the US has decided to withdraw from many of these fronts.

In a press conference, the Spanish leader said Beijing had agreed to measures to narrow his country's trade deficit of nearly $50 billion with Beijing.

He added that he would on Tuesday sign several agreements with Premier Li Qiang, including expanded access for Spanish agricultural products to China and improving Spain's transport and infrastructure. 

After his official welcome ceremony hosted by Premier Li at the Great Hall of the People, Sanchez was expected to meet with Chinese investors to promote his business interests in Spain. He was also due to attend meetings with representatives of innovative companies as well as officials from the EU-China Chamber of Commerce.

Sanchez said that middle powers like Spain must push for the multilateral order to be respected, echoing a concept expressed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Sanchez singled out Israel in his press conference for violating international law in the Middle East, saying he had discussed the "grave situation" in Lebanon, Gaza and Ukraine during his meeting with Xi.

Sanchez's fourth visit highlights his determination not to align himself with Trump — who has heavily criticised Spain for denying landing rights to US forces in the war with Iran and for its relatively low defence spending - and threatened to punish uncooperative NATO military allies.

Sánchez visited the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Monday, and toured an exhibition of its scientific achievements and accepted an honorary professorship from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS).

Approximately 220 guests attended the event, including the spouse of the Prime Minister of Spain, the Spanish Ambassador to China, the Chinese Ambassador to Spain, as well as representatives from China's Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, various CAS institutes, and UCAS faculty and students.

Chinese ambassador to Spain Yao Jing said warm relations had encouraged Chinese companies to invest.

"Spain is more reasonable in dealing with China," he said. "It has its own judgment, its own interests, it wants access to Chinese markets. So we do business."

Chinese firms invested 643 million euros in Spain in 2025, up from 149 million a year earlier, data from the Economy Ministry shows, bringing the total to 9.7 billion euros between 2010 and 2025, primarily in extractive industry and the energy sector.