Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at a bilateral business forum in Shanghai on Tuesday that he was upbeat about closer business ties between his country and China in the future.
Sanchez arrived in Beijing on Sunday for an official visit to China that will last through Wednesday.
The China-Spain Business Forum marked the inaugural event of Sanchez's visit to Shanghai, the second stop on his tour of China after leaving Beijing.
Centered on themes such as future industrial opportunities and green transformation, as well as industrial and supply chain cooperation and third-party market cooperation, the forum attracted over 700 entrepreneurs from both nations. Participating sectors included energy, logistics, finance, trade, machinery, and aerospace. Sanchez said that China is a pivotal partner for Spain and the two economies feature high complementarity. He emphasized the potential to enhance cooperation in high-end manufacturing, green energy, and the circular economy. Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of expanding collaboration with third parties, particularly in Asian and African markets.
The prime minister also said Spain is committed to creating a favorable environment for Chinese companies and warmly welcomes increased investment from them. Sanchez's visit came against the backdrop of mounting trade tensions between the European Union and China, primarily over electric vehicles. The European Commission announced in August its plan to impose tariffs of up to 36.3 percent on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
During the visit, Sanchez highlighted Spain's support for free trade principles and market openness, expressing hope to deepen cooperation in areas such as new energy vehicles.
"We hope that the EU and China can ease the current tension through candid dialogue. This tension is largely caused by the EU's increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Spain advocates for discussions within the WTO framework, so as to develop fairer and more just economic and trade relations and avoid 'trade wars'," said the prime minister.
China is now Spain's largest trading partner outside the EU, while Spain ranks as China's fifth largest trading partner within the EU. The close business ties have made economic and trade issues top priorities of Sanchez's visit.
Meanwhile, boosting cultural ties is also on Sanchez's agenda. Later, the prime minister will inaugurate the Cervantes Institute Cultural Center, and communicate with teachers and students in Tongji University.
Sanchez calls for deepening commercial ties with China at business forum
Sanchez calls for deepening commercial ties with China at business forum
As China's foreign trade upscaled to 2.1 trillion yuan (about 290 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, new technologies, and innovation have been vital motives.
In 2024, China's foreign trade structure was upgraded, with high-tech products accounting for a larger share of total exports.
By using AI technologies to optimize the motion control algorithm, a robot company in Hangzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province has taught its robot dogs to do acrobatics. These robot dogs have gained a global reputation, and have occupied over 60 percent of the global market.
"By introducing AI reinforcement training, our robot dogs have performed excellently. For example, now it is standing on four feet, and we can order it to do headstands with two feet. For actions like this, developing its motion control coding in traditional ways would take a long time, but now, with AI reinforcement training, robot dogs can perform increasingly better," said Huang Jiawei, chief market director of the robot company.
A graphic tablet company in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, achieved a similar success. By investing in research and development, the company has managed to upgrade the precision and stability of its products with 54 patents, and now is among the best-sellers on e-commerce platforms in the United States and United Arab Emirates. Last year the company's total exports reached 340 million yuan (about 46.4 million U.S. dollars).
"This type of graphic tablet is quite popular on overseas e-commerce platforms, and its sales surged by 40 percent last year," said Xu Hefeng, president of the Shenzhen company.
According to statistics, China's high-technology exports have witnessed a rapid increase, with new energy vehicles (NEVs), 3D printers, and industrial robots ranking among the best performers, achieving an increase of 13.1 percent, 32.8 percent, and 45.2 percent, respectively.
"To sum up China's foreign trade performance in 2024, it's safe to say that its quality has improved, and scale expanded. China's contribution to global trade growth is growing steadily. Our trade structure is being constantly upgraded, and our innovation ability improving. Innovation has driven China's foreign trade up," said Liang Ming, head of the Foreign Trade Institute under the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Innovation, new technologies boost China's foreign trade in 2024