The Diplomat
In an interview with The Diplomat in Spain prior to the forum held at Casa Asia, Yao Jing, China’s ambassador to Spain, emphasized the sustained growth of bilateral cooperation in key areas such as higher education, vocational training, technological investment, and tourism. With the new 2025–2028 Action Plan as a roadmap, China seeks to deepen its partnership with Spain in strategic areas such as academic mobility, clean energy, and the digital economy.
The Diplomat in Spain: China has significantly strengthened its educational cooperation with Spain in recent years. What areas of academic collaboration do you consider priority for the immediate future?
In December of last year, the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a mechanism for regular consultation at the ministerial level to jointly strengthen cooperation in higher education between the two countries. Last April, during President Pedro Sánchez’s visit to China, the Ministries of Education of both countries signed another MoU on the matter, thus achieving comprehensive coverage of ministerial dialogue mechanisms in the field of education. The Action Plan (2025-2028) to Strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between China and Spain states that the two parties will strengthen cooperation in the university field, promoting joint degrees, exchanges, and mobility of faculty and students. The educational institutions of both countries are intensifying their cooperation, focusing on joint research activities and talent development in areas such as green and digital technologies.
The two parties already have significant consensus in the field of vocational training. We can continue exploring ways to promote faculty and student exchanges, as well as the integration between industry and education in this area, identifying priority areas for cooperation that can contribute to industrial and economic development, such as batteries, new energy vehicles, information technology, transportation, logistics, etc. This Embassy also promotes cooperation between Chinese companies in Spain and local educational institutions, with a view to establishing a stable, reliable, and efficient mechanism for training professional talent.
The Diplomat in Spain: The Spanish language is increasingly gaining ground in Chinese higher education. How do you assess the importance of Spanish in Sino-Spanish relations?
As the third most widely spoken language in the world with a wide geographical distribution, Spanish is receiving increasing attention in China. With the deepening of economic globalization and the arrival of the Big Data Era, the Spanish language is increasingly in demand in China. To date, there are more than 100 higher education institutions offering Spanish in our country, bilingual Spanish sections in five different cities, and two Cervantes Institutes founded in Beijing and Shanghai respectively, with more than 60,000 Chinese learning the language. The growing influence of Spanish in Chinese higher education has played an extremely positive role in promoting bilateral trade cooperation, cultural exchange, multilateral collaboration, and people-to-people ties. Therefore, strengthening language teaching and the training of professionals in this field will contribute to the continued deepening of bilateral ties.
The Diplomat in Spain: In terms of bilateral investment and trade, what trade and economic strategies do you think should be strengthened to further consolidate China’s presence in the Spanish and European economies?
In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between China and Spain has been deepening. By 2024, bilateral trade volume reached $56.97 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.6%. Over the same period, Chinese direct investment in Spain reached $170 million, an increase of 119.6%. In accordance with the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, China will continue to increase imports from Spain, focusing on agricultural products, medicines, machinery, and equipment, to further promote the balanced development of bilateral trade. It will also continue to support Chinese companies in investing and conducting cooperation projects in Spain in areas such as the green and digital economy, deepen industrial and supply chain collaboration, and actively explore cooperation in third-country markets.
The Diplomat in Spain: From a business perspective, what are the sectors of greatest interest to Chinese companies in Spain, and what opportunities do you identify for Spanish entrepreneurs in China?
The Spanish government is vigorously promoting the digital and green transition, and in response, Chinese companies have been expanding their investments in the Mediterranean country. Clean energy, electric vehicles, and digital transformation have become new highlights of bilateral cooperation. For example, China Three Gorges values Spain’s rich resources in wind and solar photovoltaic energy, invests in related renewable energy projects, and contributes to the country’s green transition; Chery and Ebro formed a joint venture to manufacture vehicles; Envision Energy is developing an integrated net-zero green hydrogen industrial park in the country; while CATL and Stellantis are jointly investing to build a battery plant. Other major Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, COSCO, Cainiao, and 4PX have provided thousands of jobs for the local population and actively contributed to Spain’s economic growth. All of these are vivid examples of practical cooperation between China and Spain.
Regarding the opportunities for Spanish companies in the Chinese market, the Chinese government continues to implement policies to promote openness to the outside world, further expanding market opening in the financial, healthcare, education, and service sectors, among others. It strives to further optimize the investment environment, thus making China a priority destination for foreign investment. According to statistics, by 2024, Spanish direct investment in China will reach US$260 million, a year-on-year increase of 129.9%. The main focus is on manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and the financial sector. Apart from this, Spanish companies in China can actively explore opportunities in the service sector, offering more quality products and services and sharing the opportunities of Chinese modernization.
The Diplomat in Spain: Technological innovation is a driver of growth for China. What opportunities does technological and educational cooperation offer between Chinese and Spanish universities and research centers?
The Chinese government has always attached great importance to the development of scientific and technological innovation. Basic research and original innovation have been continuously strengthened, achieving significant breakthroughs in key technologies: manned space exploration, lunar and Mars exploration, deep-sea and Earth exploration, supercomputing, satellite navigation, quantum information, nuclear technology, new energy technology, large aircraft manufacturing, biomedicine, among others.
By 2024, total investment in R&D across Chinese society will exceed 3.6 trillion yuan (approximately $498.9 billion), ranking second in the world, with expenditure equivalent to 2.68% of GDP. According to the Global Innovation Index Report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China ranked 11th in innovation worldwide in 2024, and first among developing countries. According to the Nature Index Report published by Nature Magazine, China accounts for 9 of the top 10 scientific institutions with the greatest contributions to global scientific research; and 25 of the top 50.
After more than 40 years of reform and opening up, global scientific and technological progress increasingly requires China, and China’s scientific and technological development is increasingly inseparable from the world’s. Strengthening openness and cooperation in science and technology is a principle the Chinese government always adheres to, and the door to openness and cooperation in science and technology will only continue to open wider. During Prime Minister Sánchez’s visit to China in April, both countries signed the Action Plan (2025–2028) to Strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. In this plan, they agreed to promote the participation of key stakeholders and agents in both countries’ science, technology, and business ecosystems in joint research projects between research groups and universities, institutional collaboration between funding agencies and public research organizations, and technological alliances of common interest in technological verticals such as clean technologies, energy, water, and energy efficiency, wind and solar energy, and energy storage systems, including batteries, engineering, sustainable cities, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing, agri-food technologies, health technologies, sustainable chemistry, and the circular economy, among others. This type of educational and scientific cooperation will become the main driver of sustainable economic and social growth and development for both parties.
The Diplomat in Spain: In the field of tourism, what strategies does China promote to encourage tourism flows between the two countries as a tool for mutual understanding and economic growth?
China and Spain are major source and recipient countries for tourists and hold a prominent position in the global tourism industry. Over the years, tourism and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have been close, maintaining good cooperative relations. In 2023, on the occasion of the China-Spain Year of Culture and Tourism, the two countries jointly organized a wide range of cultural and tourism activities, which allowed for a comprehensive deepening of bilateral exchanges and increased the attractiveness of both parties in the global tourism market.
At the end of 2023, China announced the list of beneficiary countries for its pilot unilateral visa exemption policy, including Spain. This measure was highly valued by the Spanish government and tourism sector, and has significantly contributed to the accelerated recovery of bilateral tourism in 2024. In November 2024, China further optimized this policy, expanding entry requirements and extending the visa-free stay period to 30 days. At the same time, air connectivity between the two countries has steadily improved. Currently, airlines such as Air China, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, Capital Airlines, and Cathay Pacific operate direct flights, with a total of 48 weekly frequencies, making Spain the European country with the most direct flights with China, greatly facilitating personal exchanges.
Thanks to the promotion of a series of tourism policies and facilitation measures, inquiries about travel to China from Spain have increased significantly, and the number of tourists has grown significantly, with an accelerated recovery of tourist interest. According to data from Chinese institutions, 157,000 Spanish tourists traveled to China in 2024, representing 95% of the 2019 volume, placing Spain first among European countries in terms of the level of recovery.
As the Chinese outbound travel market gradually recovers, Spain continues to consolidate its position as a preferred destination for Asian tourists, and the recovery of Chinese tourist visits to Spain has been significantly stronger than other European destinations. According to the Spanish Tourism Institute (Turespaña), a total of 647,800 Chinese citizens visited Spain in 2024, representing a year-over-year increase of 66.7% and a 93% recovery compared to 2019. At the same time, Chinese tourists in Spain recorded an average stay of 10.3 nights and an average expenditure per person of €2,958, the highest among all foreign visitors.
