Sanchez's China visit to promote development of China-Europe ties

Editor's note: Jian Junbo, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is director of the Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University, Shanghai. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is paying a five-day official visit to China, from April 11 to 15, marking his fourth consecutive visit during his term. Last November, King Felipe VI of Spain also visited Beijing, marking the first visit by a Spanish king to China in 18 years. China-Spain high-level exchanges have played an irreplaceable role in promoting and consolidating friendly and stable bilateral relations, and against this backdrop, significant achievements have been made in cooperation between the two sides.

In addition to frequent high-level political interactions, bilateral economic ties have strengthened in recent years with a series of agreements, such as the Bilateral Investment Treaty in force since 2008, a Social Insurance Agreement effective since 2018 and a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement in force since 2021. Currently, China is Spain's largest trading partner outside the EU, with bilateral trade volume exceeding $55 billion in 2025 from $7.2 billion in 2004.

To balance bilateral trade, China will continue to increase imports from Spain, focusing on agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, and machinery. Two-way investment is also growing rapidly; for example, Chinese direct investment in Spain soared to 643 million euros (around $751.7 million) in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 331%. Chinese battery manufacturer CATL and Spanish automaker Stellantis will co-build a 4.1-billion-euro battery manufacturing plant in Zaragoza, while other companies such as Huawei have also invested in Spain.

Spanish investment in China has remained generally stable, with a continuously optimized investment structure, mainly concentrated on high-end manufacturing, consumer goods, finance and services. Well-known Spanish companies such as Gestamp, Roca and Santander have established factories and operations in China, deeply integrating into the Chinese industrial chain.

Frequent high-level interactions and close economic and trade ties have also driven exchanges at the social and cultural levels between the two sides. Nearly 800,000 Chinese tourists visited Spain in 2025. Stimulated by China's visa-free policy for Spain, a large number of Spanish tourists are visiting China.

The Spanish government's motivation to actively develop relations with China stems primarily from the importance that Sanchez himself and his government place on the positive impact of the Chinese market on Spain's economic development. They see a window of opportunity in developing relations with China, and close cooperation in the economic and trade fields is highly beneficial for Spain in improving its power system, developing green energy and upgrading its advanced manufacturing sector.

Furthermore, the continuity and stability of China's domestic and foreign policies are attractive to Spanish businesses seeking access to the Chinese market. Moreover, the pressure exerted by the US's Trump administration on Europe has prompted European countries, including Spain, to seek connections with China to offset pressure from the United States and to promote strategic autonomy.

In the future, based on the continued deepening of interdependence in trade and investment, China and Spain can jointly explore economic, trade and technological cooperation in other Spanish-speaking countries, promote mutually beneficial and win-win results and achieve cooperation in international multilateral organizations and institutions.

It is evident that the deepening cooperation between China and Spain has had a positive impact on China-EU relations. It not only provides the EU with a successful model for developing relations with China, but also offers room for easing tensions in the China-EU relationship. Therefore, the China-Spain close relationship can be regarded as a stabilizer and lubricant to help recalibrate China-EU relations.

Despite the positive development of Sino-Spanish relations, existing issues and challenges should be concerned. The current trade imbalance between China and Spain is remarkable. Meanwhile, there are some anti-China forces within Spain, such as the party Vox, which uses topics like immigration and employment to publicize the "Chinese threat," and some media outlets exaggerating China's "economic plunder" and "human rights issues," misleading public perception.

However, as a member of the EU and NATO, Spain's policy towards China is subject to constraints and even pressure from the EU and the US. Its relations with China must be in line with the EU's overall stance on China and strike a balance between seeking economic opportunities and managing so-called geopolitical competition with China.

Regardless of the challenges, the growing development of Sino-Spanish relations is bringing tangible benefits to both sides, rendering any attempts to question or suppress the ties naive, hypocritical and powerless. Stimulated by the meetings and exchanges of leaders of both sides, the China-Spain relationship will further develop and also improve and contribute to the healthy development of China-EU relations.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on X, formerly Twitter, to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)