Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez will discuss Chinese president Xi Jinping’s attempt to broker peace talks in Ukraine during an official visit to Beijing next week.
Sánchez’s planned visit, and the move to put discussion of China’s Ukraine peace initiative on the agenda, add momentum to Beijing’s efforts to cast itself as a mediator in the war. Spain is due to assume the rotating EU presidency in July.
“I am grateful for President Xi’s invitation. It is important to know his position on peace in Ukraine and to convey to him that it will be the Ukrainians who establish the conditions for that peace,” Sánchez said ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.