Spain Exhorts China to Take Bigger Role in Multipolar Order
By Reuters | 12 Apr, 2026

China is urged to assume a bigger role in global issues like climate change, security, defense and the fight against inequality as the US withdraws from traditional leadership roles.

FILE PHOTO: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Chinese President Xi Jinping speak as they walk along the gardens of Diaoyutai Guest House after a meeting in Beijing, China, 11 April 2025. ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday said China should take on a more substantial role with issues including climate change, security, defense and the fight against inequality, adding that Europe will also have to redouble its efforts as the U.S. withdraws from leadership roles on many fronts.

Sanchez, who is making his fourth visit to China in four years, spoke at Beijing's Tsinghua University.

His visit comes as many Western governments seek to maintain engagement with Beijing despite lingering security and trade tensions. It follows visits to China earlier this year by the prime ministers of Britain, Ireland, Canada and Finland.

Spain has been one of Europe's loudest proponents of expanding trade and treating China as a strategic ally rather than an economic and geopolitical rival.

Sanchez said China could do more in terms of fighting climate change, promoting global health, controlling the development of responsible artificial intelligence as well as nuclear weapons.

"For example, by demanding as it is doing, that international law be respected and that the conflicts in Lebanon, Iran, Gaza and the West Bank and Ukraine cease," he said.

"Europe will also have to redouble its efforts, especially now that the United States has decided to withdraw from many of these fronts."

Sanchez is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday where they are expected to focus on geopolitics.

China accounted for 74% of Spain's total trade deficit, Sanchez said, adding that cooperation was important to build a "balanced, globalised economy that generates shared prosperity."

Madrid hopes Sanchez's visit will narrow Spain's trade deficit, which more than doubled in four years to nearly $50 billion in 2025. It is looking to boost agricultural and manufacturing exports to offset high volumes of China's imports.

China's official news agency Xinhua on Monday said Sanchez's visit was set to further consolidate bilateral ties and pointed to a broader pathway for steady engagement between China and Europe at a time of growing global uncertainty.

(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)