CHINA-PM Sanchez's State Visit To Garner Notable International Attention

MNI (London) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's state visit to China will garner significant international attention as Beijing continues to seek to position itself as a mediator in the Ukraine war. Sanchez is set to be in China 30-31 March, where he will hold talks with President Xi Jinping who has recently returned from a high-profile visit to Russia.

• At the EUCO summit in Brussels, Sanchez stated that "We will also talk about Ukraine where the most important thing is to be able to guarantee a stable and lasting peace...It is important to know first-hand [Xi's] position on the peace on Ukraine and tell him also that the Ukrainians themselves will establish the conditions for the beginning of this peace,"
• The most recent state visit to China by an EU head of gov't was German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November 2022. The trip, which saw Scholz head a sizeable business delegation, drew criticism from China hawks in the EU, with critics arguing that Scholz put German economic interests ahead of EU concerns about China's relations with Russia and the prospect of a 'systemic rivalry' with Beijing.
• The tone Sanchez strikes on the visit will be viewed as particularly important, given that Spain assumes the rotating 6-month presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, giving his gov't a prominent role in setting the EU's agenda for H223.