Sánchez: “I can think of few better interlocutors than China to resolve the situation in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz”

Eduardo González The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, insisted this Tuesday to the President of China, Xi Jinping, on the need for his country to “contribute with its diplomatic efforts to resolving conflicts and wars that plague the world,” because “it seems very difficult to find other interlocutors beyond China who can untangle the situation created in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.” “We are living in times of change. The international order that prevailed since the second half of the 20th century is unfortunately being weakened and undermined by significant actors within the international order, and there are those who, faced with this situation, choose to deny reality or even lament it,” Sánchez declared at a press conference in Beijing after meeting with Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People and attending the official banquet hosted by the Chinese president in his honor. “In the case of the Spanish government, what we prefer is to dedicate all our efforts to reforming an international order that has guaranteed peace for many decades and also to making it much more inclusive, more representative, and more democratic; therefore, a renewed international order that would undoubtedly benefit a middle power like Spain, as well as Europe and the entire world,” he continued. “I had the opportunity to discuss with President Xi the reforms that our multilateral system needs to better recognize the multipolar reality of today’s world, as well as the serious situations in Lebanon, Gaza, Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and undoubtedly also in Ukraine. From Spain’s perspective, I also encouraged the Chinese government to continue actively contributing to strengthening this multilateral system,” he explained. In Sánchez’s view, it is necessary that “China, as the great power it is, increase its efforts to combat the climate emergency, as it is doing; contribute to reducing poverty, as it is doing; and, of course, contribute through its diplomatic efforts to resolving the conflicts and wars that plague the world,” he added. “While we seek a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, we want international law to be respected in the Middle East,” which is “being fundamentally violated by the Israeli government” and countered “with an absolutely illegal response from the Iranian regime,” he continued. In this context, he warned, “it seems very difficult to find other interlocutors beyond China who can resolve this situation created in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.” “Therefore, I believe—and this says it all—that China plays an important role in finding diplomatic avenues to end this conflict and contribute to stability and peace,” he insisted. Bilateral relations Sánchez also affirmed that “bilateral relations between China and Spain are in excellent health” and, as a result, the two countries have elevated their political dialogue “to its highest level in the last 53 years.” “In 2005, Spain took an important step with the creation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and in 2025 we signed the Three-Year Action Plan. But on this visit in 2026, we have gone a step further and established a Strategic Dialogue, which is the mechanism used by Chinese authorities with those countries with which they maintain a closer and more stable relationship,” he announced. The Diplomatic Strategic Dialogue Mechanism—signed this Tuesday by Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who is accompanying Pedro Sánchez in Beijing—will allow Spain to have a similar instrument to those already in place in other major European Union countries, such as France and Germany. Last October, Albares and his Chinese counterpart, Minister Wang Yi, agreed in Hangzhou to establish a Strategic Dialogue to institutionalize and provide predictability to high-level meetings between Spain and China. The Spain-China Diplomatic Strategic Dialogue Mechanism will be chaired by the foreign ministers of both countries and will address bilateral, regional, global, and other issues of common interest. The meetings will allow for the promotion and high-level follow-up of the 2025-2028 Action Plan, the concrete implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025. Economic relations Pedro Sánchez and Xi Jinping also addressed “the current trade imbalance between Europe and China, and also between Spain and China,” which “is excessive,” he announced. “We must do everything possible to correct it,” because “if we want the globalized economy to continue to exist, it must work for everyone with fair supply chains that create jobs and wealth in all regions of China and also in all regions of Spain,” he warned. “China must see Europe, just as it sees Spain, as a place to invest and also as a partner with which to launch industrial projects,” he stated. “I have made this clear to all the authorities I have met with, particularly President Xi, and I must say that I found understanding and a willingness to work to achieve this balance on the other side of the table,” he affirmed. “Proof of this are the ten economic agreements that we will sign today,” he announced. “Five will serve to expand access for our agri-food products to the formidable Chinese market, four will help us boost Spanish exports and develop our transport and infrastructure capabilities, and one will protect the designations of origin of our farmers,” he affirmed. “The agreements we signed in 2025 have contributed to Spanish exports to China growing by more than seven percent in just one year,” he specified. In particular, as Moncloa specified, in the agri-food sector, protocols have been formalized that expand Spanish exports, incorporating new authorized products—such as pistachios, dried figs, pork protein, and certain fertilizers—strengthening the protection of geographical indications, and establishing health cooperation mechanisms to combat avian influenza. A Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed to promote cooperation in the area of sustainable transport and its infrastructure. Furthermore, before his meeting with Xi, Pedro Sánchez met “with 36 Chinese business leaders whose companies were projected to have a turnover of more than one trillion euros in 2025” and asked them to “invest in Spain.” “In fact, some of them are already investing in Spain, and our interest is that they increase their investment and their presence in our countries, that they create factories, therefore, that they create development centers, that they open logistics platforms in our country and that they establish partnerships with our companies to go together to other territories, whether on the African continent or also on the Latin American continent,” he added. Feijóo Meanwhile, the president of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, criticized Pedro Sánchez's "flirtation" with "third countries outside of Europe" on Tuesday and warned, during the PP's plenary session in Congress, that the Prime Minister should clarify "whether he plans to alter Spain's alliances abroad in any way." "To cede the space that belongs to democratic countries to countries that are not democratic is a betrayal of the world's democratic values, and now the only question is what he's getting in return," he added. Sánchez's visit is his fourth to China in the last four years, following those in March 2023, September 2024, and April 2025. His predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, also of the People's Party, traveled to China three times: in September 2014, September 2016, and May 2017.

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