Overview
- After a formal military welcome at the Great Hall of the People, Xi Jinping and King Felipe VI held a bilateral meeting in which Xi touted a “constructive” partnership as a model.
- Both sides signed around a dozen agreements spanning foreign affairs, agriculture, science, culture and education, including the creation of a single-window mechanism for Spanish business issues.
- Felipe VI opened a business forum in Chengdu a day earlier and called for legal certainty and clear rules for Spanish firms seeking to expand in China.
- Foreign minister José Manuel Albares and economy minister Carlos Cuerpo joined the Beijing talks as the official program moved from symbolism to concrete commitments.
- The visit also featured a private four-person dinner at Zhongnanhai and accommodation at Diaoyutai, followed by a wreath-laying at the Monument to the People’s Heroes, with some Spanish media noting EU unease over the visit’s political optics.