| |
China, Spain Sign Agreements 11/12 06:55
BEIJING (AP) -- Spanish King Felipe VI and Chinese President Xi Jinping
signed agreements on language exchanges and other areas Wednesday as both sides
vowed to strengthen their cooperation.
The monarch's visit comes as Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy,
continues its courtship of China and Chinese investment while the relationship
with the United States is strained under President Donald Trump. In April,
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Snchez, head of the country's government, made his
third visit to China in as many years.
Spain is one of the more friendly countries to China relative to others in
the European Union in recent years.
Felipe and Queen Letizia were met by Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan in front of
Beijing's Great Hall of the People, and were greeted with a performance by the
military band and a 21-gun salute. This is the first state visit for the
Spanish king to China, and he was also accompanied by Spanish Foreign Minister
Jos Manuel Albares.
"China stands ready to work hand in hand with Spain to build a comprehensive
strategic partnership that is more strategically steady, more dynamic in
development, and more influential internationally," said Xi in his opening
remarks, particularly while the international situation is "complex and
volatile." He said that China would also import more Spanish products, without
specifying, according to a readout of the meeting from the official Xinhua news.
Felipe and Xi signed agreements promoting cooperation in language exchanges,
economic issues, and exporting aquatic products to China.
Felipe is also scheduled to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Zhao
Leji, chairman of China's top legislative body.
The monarch's first stop in China was the city of Chengdu, where alongside
Spain's foreign minister and economy minister, he attended a Spain-China
business forum with several Spanish business leaders.
Spain has taken a less adversarial stance toward China, and has sought to
reposition trade relations with the country, whose exports to Spain are far
greater than those of the Iberian nation of 49.4 million people to China, which
has a population of more than 1.4 billion.
After meeting with Xi in April, Snchez said Spain was in favor of "more
balanced relations between the European Union and China." The EU negotiates
trade terms on behalf of all 27 member countries.
The last time a Spanish monarch visited China on an official state trip was
in 2007. Xi last visited Spain in 2018.
Spain generated more than half of its electricity last year from renewable
sources, and needs Chinese critical raw materials, solar panels and green
technologies in its transition away from fossil fuels, similar to other EU
countries. Xi said both sides could further explore cooperation in renewable
energy and artificial intelligence.
Last year, Chinese electric battery company CATL announced a joint venture
with automaker Stellantis to build a battery factory in northern Spain. That
followed deals between Spain and Chinese companies Envision and Hygreen Energy
to build green hydrogen infrastructure in the country.
|
|
