Meeting Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was reminded that his political obedience is the price he must pay for China’s beneficence. There could be no more stark contrast between this form of feudal mercantilism and the U.S. vision for an international order centered on relatively free trade and capitalist competition.
As Beijing’s propaganda newspaper Global Times put it, Xi “stressed that Europe should maintain strategic independence when dealing with relations with China.” A Communist apparatchik explained that Xi’s meeting with Sanchez “also reminds Europe to walk in the same direction as China.” In a separate editorial, the newspaper added that when it comes to EU-China relations, “their common interests far outweigh the divergences. This fundamental aspect should be recognized in Europe’s ‘strategic autonomy.'”
