On the afternoon of September 9th, President Xi Jinping met with Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez, who was on an official visit to China, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.
Xi Jinping asked Sanchez to convey his greetings to King Felipe VI. Xi Jinping pointed out that last year, China and the West jointly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Over the past year, both sides have maintained close exchanges and interactions at all levels, and advanced high-quality cooperation in new fields. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the West. Both sides should uphold the original intention of establishing diplomatic relations with mutual respect and equal treatment, have a broad vision and a long-term perspective, continuously enrich the era connotation of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, create a long-term stable China West relationship with strategic determination, and promote the relationship between the two countries to a higher level.
Xi Jinping emphasized that reform and opening up is a correct development path that China has found through long-term practice and will steadfastly continue to follow. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC made a systematic deployment to further comprehensively deepen reform and promote Chinese path to modernization, which brings new opportunities for China and the West to deepen and expand cooperation. Both sides should make good use of platforms such as the Economic and Trade Joint Committee and the Science and Technology Joint Committee to jointly promote development in high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, and new energy, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. We hope that Spain will continue to provide a fair, just, safe, and non discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies to invest and develop in the West. Both sides should adhere to inclusiveness and mutual learning, strengthen cultural exchanges such as language teaching, youth, culture, and tourism, and promote people's friendship. China appreciates Spain's active promotion of China Europe exchanges and cooperation during its presidency of the European Union in the second half of last year. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. China is willing to work with the European Union to summarize the successful experience of bilateral relations and promote the steady progress of China EU relations in the direction of independence, mutual achievement, and benefiting the world. I hope Spain will continue to play a constructive role in this regard.
Xi Jinping pointed out that in today's world, turmoil is intertwined, and both China and Spain are countries with a sense of responsibility and mission, advocating multilateralism and free trade. China is willing to expand third-party market cooperation with Spain towards the global South, strengthen communication and cooperation in international organizations such as the United Nations and the G20, and inject more positive energy into world peace, stability, and human progress.
Sanchez conveyed the sincere greetings of King Felipe VI to President Xi Jinping and expressed his pleasure in visiting China again after a year, which demonstrates the close relationship between Spain and China. The friendship between China and the West has a long history, and the two countries have continuously developed and deepened their partnership on the basis of mutual respect. During my visit, both sides signed multiple cooperation agreements in areas such as green development, demonstrating the enormous potential and bright prospects of our cooperation. We hope that both sides can strengthen cultural exchanges, deepen cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, and new energy vehicles. The West is willing to provide a favorable environment for Chinese enterprises. Both China and the West are committed to maintaining world peace and defending multilateralism. The world today is facing multiple challenges such as turbulence, conflict, poverty, and climate change, which require the international community to strengthen cooperation and jointly respond. China is a key force in maintaining world peace and development, and plays an important constructive role in solving major international and regional issues. The West views its relations with China from a strategic perspective, firmly pursues the one China policy, and is willing to be a trusted partner of China. It looks forward to further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the West and China and making greater contributions to the well-being of the two peoples and world peace and prosperity. The West supports the principles of free trade and market openness, does not agree with a trade war, and is willing to continue playing a positive role in promoting the healthy development of EU China relations.
Both sides also exchanged views on issues such as the Ukrainian crisis and the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Wang Yi attended the meeting.