Spanish PM Sanchez in China to meet Xi, boost trade

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is in China's capital Monday for talks with top officials including President Xi Jinping, keen to boost economic ties despite a trade standoff between Beijing and the European Union.

Speaking at a forum in Beijing, Sanchez hailed "strong ties" between China and Spain.

"Even on those issues where our positions do not fully coincide, we maintain a constructive willingness to engage in dialogue and cooperation," he said Monday in a video shared on his social media.

"We are committed to developing a positive agenda and seeking consensual solutions that benefit all parties," he added.

Sanchez is set to meet Premier Li Qiang at Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Monday afternoon, as well as Xi and top lawmakers, according to a schedule provided by his office.

The Spanish premier met with Xi during his last visit to China in March 2023, and took part in the Boao Forum for Asia -- similar to the World Economic Forum held in Davos -- in China's Hainan province.

His trip will also take him to Shanghai on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he will meet local officials and businesses as well as inaugurate a new Cervantes Institute cultural centre.

The premier's arrival in Beijing came shortly after Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia -- who insists he, not strongman Nicolas Maduro, is the country's legitimate president-elect -- fled for exile in Spain.

Speaking at a socialist party meeting on Saturday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described Gonzalez Urrutia as "a hero who Spain will not abandon."

Beijing enjoys close ties with Maduro's government.

Sanchez's visit also comes against the backdrop of mounting trade tensions between the European Union and China.

The European Commission, which oversees the bloc's trade policy, announced last month that it planned to impose five-year import duties of up to 36 percent on electric vehicles imported from China.

That same month, Beijing launched a probe into EU subsidies of some dairy products imported into China.

And in June, Beijing launched an anti-dumping investigation into pork imports from the bloc, in response to an application submitted by a local trade grouping on behalf of domestic producers.

The Iberian nation is the EU's largest exporter of pork products to China, selling over 560,000 tonnes to the world's second-largest economy last year at a total value of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), according to industry body Interporc.