Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is on a five-day official visit to China starting on Saturday. This is his fourth trip to the country in four years, making him one of the most frequent visitors to China among European leaders in recent years. The visit, which comes about five months after Spanish King Felipe VI visited China, shows that bilateral relations between China and Spain continue to strengthen.

There are profound economic, trade and geopolitical reasons why Spain has moved closer to China in recent years. The industrial structures of the two countries are highly complementary. China has become Spain's largest trading partner outside the European Union, while Spain is China's fifth-largest trading partner within the EU. Bilateral trade in goods reached $55 billion in 2025, an increase of nearly 10 percent year-on-year, while two-way investment crossed $11 billion in 2024.

New energy is a key area of bilateral cooperation. As Spain vigorously advances its green transition, China's prowess in the new energy sector is a perfect match. Chinese new energy companies have accelerated their investments in Spain in recent years.

As deglobalization and protectionism continue to challenge the global trade order, China's huge market, considerable capital strength and open and independent foreign policy have attracted Spain.

On the other hand, the strained relations between the United States and its European allies, including Spain, provide an important backdrop for Sanchez's visit. The US not only imposed "reciprocal tariffs" on its trading partners around the world, including European countries, it has also repeatedly threatened to "take over" Greenland, causing unease within Europe. Furthermore, the US-Israeli attacks on Iran triggered a global energy crisis and hit European countries hard.

This rift within the transatlantic alliance is reflected in disagreements between Spain and the US. Spain refused to allow the US to use its military bases in Spain for attacks on Iran. Last year, it rejected NATO's call for increasing military spending to 5 percent of its GDP. These actions have drawn dissatisfaction from the US. Therefore, Madrid needs to expand its partnership network to counteract pressure from Washington, and Beijing, which firmly upholds multilateralism, is an obvious choice.

Closer and regular high-level interactions between China and Spain will help align the two countries' development strategies and promote shared prosperity. China made it clear in the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) that it will advance its digital sector, speed up the green transition and promote the coordinated growth of its various regions. It also pledged greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment and facilitate international industrial and investment cooperation.

For his part, Sanchez has laid out eight major goals for Spain, including promoting its green and digital transformation and reducing differences between its provinces. The similarity of the two countries' development objectives signals great potential for cooperation, exchange and mutual learning.

Enhanced exchanges between China and Spain will also help the two countries form a coordinated stance in global governance. Spain advocates resolving differences through negotiations within multilateral frameworks and finding solutions based on respect for the interests of all parties. It recognizes the urgency of the climate crisis, and firmly implements the Paris Agreement.

This aligns closely with China's commitments to addressing climate change, international development, and its vision of global governance. The two sides could work together under the framework of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative to advance cooperation on responses to climate change and reform of the global governance system.

The EU has tended to view China as a "rival" rather than a partner, and its approach toward China has an ideological bias. By strengthening ties with China, Spain — a key EU member — may also help ease the EU's prejudice against China and stabilize China-EU relations.

For example, as Sanchez wrapped up his 2024 visit to China, he called on the EU to reconsider imposing additional tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. "We don't need a trade war, we need to build bridges between the EU and China," he said.

Though trade and investment form an important cornerstone of China-Spain relations, bilateral ties extend beyond the economic domain. Spain possesses a triple identity — Mediterranean, Atlantic and Ibero-American — which allows it to mediate across different geographical and cultural spheres and conduct cross-regional dialogue.

China views Spain as an important partner within the EU and values Spain's unique role in international and regional affairs. During Sanchez's visit to China, besides economic and trade issues, Madrid may also hope to discuss hot spot issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Middle East crisis.

The visit reflects Europe's efforts to recalibrate its foreign policies amid dramatic changes in the international political landscape. Many leaders and senior officials from Europe, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland and the EU have flocked to China recently. Europe has realized that the US is no longer as trustworthy and reliable as before. Given the unprecedented challenges facing the world, working with China could help Europe find the solutions it needs.

The author is a researcher and lecturer at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

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