Spanish Prime Minister calls for a multipolar world in Tsinghua University speech

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ChillAhriman@reddit (OP)

The full speech is here, in original Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQJu_MI3ua0

Sánchez's movements in China during the last week are really interesting, and the speech itself is quite dense. Here are some of the key points from the speech:

- Call to reform the UN for it to work more democratically, recognizing the rise of Asian nations
- Responsibility of developed countries in order to manage "global public goods", mostly in reference to climate change. In this sense, he has praised China for their efforts in that struggle
- Call for larger Europe-China cooperation
- Call for China to aid in making international law effective, and to stop the wars in the Middle East (mentioning Lebanon, Palestine and Iran) and Ukraine

Also, while this wasn't part of the speech, there are also reports that the negotiations between Sánchez and Xi include the possibility of having Chinese companies share their technical knowledge with the Spanish workforce (China is aiming to build electric batteries factories in Spain).

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kippenmelk@reddit

the possibility of having Chinese companies share their technical knowledge with the Spanish workforce

So basically what western companies did when moving their factories to China. What goes around, comes around i guess.

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paikiachu@reddit

Europe moved their production to China because of cheap labor, lax regulations, low trade barriers, and access to the world’s largest middle class. Which of these does Europe offer?

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an-invisible-hand@reddit

Access to the world's second largest middle class. Supplanting America as the EU's largest trade partner would be a massive win for China.

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paikiachu@reddit

I mean China already has pretty good access to European markets. We all saw how Trump Taco’d out of tariff war with China, would Europe do the same?

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ChillAhriman@reddit (OP)

Goods made in China get tariff'd when entering Europe. Chinese companies making those goods in Europe would allow them to skip those tariffs.

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Butane9000@reddit

You mean the same logic Trump is trying to press upon people to move manufacturing to the United States?

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an-invisible-hand@reddit

Pretty good isn't the best, especially when the best is currently your #1 rival.

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Xanchush@reddit

Isn't the India the world's second largest middle class? Then followed by the US. If you are talking about all of EU then yes but most EU countries negotiate their markets as individual entities.

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an-invisible-hand@reddit

I'm talking about the EU as a whole because that's how the EU works.

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Cold_Combination2107@reddit

a market for chinese goods?

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OsgrobioPrubeta@reddit

It wasn't because of that at the beginning, not even close.

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paikiachu@reddit

So why did Europe moved their production production to China then?

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OsgrobioPrubeta@reddit

At the beginning there was no intention of moving production to China, two German idiots moved by different interests were convinced that they were smarter than the Chinese, and that they would export infinite quantities of German made products to China, in exchange of accepting China on the WTO, abolishing the criticism towards China, diminishing/ending of tariffs to Chinese products, and refusing to adopt embargos related to China.

Many warned about the risks, some even threatened and made their own moves like USA, others were bought with peanuts like my own Country, others keep profiting from it while screwing others, like Netherlands and Belgium.

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paikiachu@reddit

Europeans started moving production to China in the 1980s after China opened up in 1978. China joined the WTO in 2001.

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OsgrobioPrubeta@reddit

Moving production? No, doing partnerships with Chinese companies, yes. The production was much later, a big part was of European brands already totally or partially owned by Chinese.

You think that for China joining the WTO would take how long? 1, 2, 5, years? The process only truly ended this year, taking almost 50 years.

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paikiachu@reddit

Europe moved their production to China because of cheap labor, lax regulations, low trade barriers, and access to the world’s largest middle class. Which of these does Europe offer?

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Lower_Cockroach2432@reddit

The da yahao cracked me up. You'd think he'd get some pronunciation tips if he's going to prepare some Chinese phrases.

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ChillAhriman@reddit (OP)

We in Spain have suffered 50 years of suffering politicians who can't speak English for shit. We're finally beyond that stage in our history, and now we'll have 50 years of suffering politicians who can't speak Chinese for shit.

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Lower_Cockroach2432@reddit

That's very funny. You also suffer foreign politicians who cannot speak Spanish for shit despite it being a major world language, so I guess it can't be too harshly judged.

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BlackFenrir@reddit

Does he acknowledge Taiwan though

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Apprehensive_Emu9240@reddit

Spain's Sanchez calls China trade imbalance with EU 'unsustainable'

Same speech, different media: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260413-spain-s-sanchez-seeks-closer-china-ties-amid-strains-with-us

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ColeslawConsumer@reddit

I love it when western countries say shit like this then do nothing to fix it

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barc0debaby@reddit

They do something about it, they make stupid and aggressive decisions that make the problem worse.

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Virtual-Pension-991@reddit

Typically, those who do that "stupid and aggressive decisions" are those who would lose much more in transitioning to better alternatives.

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xland44@reddit

Spain advocates reforming the UN to give more power to the General Assembly, make the Security Council more representative, and establish a more democratic decision-making mechanism.

This is all you need to read to know this is a waste of time - it will never happen. The world powers (US, China, Russia, France, UK) won't accept giving up more power at the Security council or giving executive power to the GA - things like the veto power were the main hook to get them to agree to the UN in the first place.

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China Daily

I bet they lost their shit that someone with power finally bit