Why does the Sino-Spanish rapprochement anger the European Union?

Why does the Sino-Spanish rapprochement anger the European Union?

On the streets of Barcelona, ​​a number of glowing red and gold Chinese dragons (presumably people sweating were inside these figures) were among the cheering crowds, while Chinese clowns amazed the spectators as they tossed spherical lanterns in the air and moved them around without the candles inside being extinguished and remaining upright all the time as if they were practicing magic.

Shanghai witnessed a historic event this week, as it became the first Asian city to receive an invitation to be a guest of honor at the famous and bustling “La Merce” cultural festival in Barcelona.

The huge popular processions at this festival are usually dedicated to celebrating a Catalan tradition dating back centuries.

So it was an extraordinary sight to see Catalan flute players in their velvet costumes swaying through Barcelona's main streets while their medieval melodies mixed with the sweet music of groups of brightly dressed Chinese performers.

The Deputy Mayor of Shanghai, Lu Shan, came to Barcelona to participate in the opening ceremony of "La Merce". He said that Chinese and Catalan cultural traditions differ in form, but carry "the same spirit."

Spain and China live in a state of mutual appreciation. But this friendly feeling is not unanimous within the European Union.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Chinese President Xi Jinping four times in four years. Since Donald Trump was re-elected as President of the United States two years ago, Sanchez has called on the European Union to improve its relations with China.

This trend has sparked dissatisfaction and rejection among a number of Spain's European partners, who view Beijing as a strategic competitor and a potential geopolitical threat to the European Union.

Some of them privately raise questions about whether Madrid's open policy, which allows Chinese companies to expand their business in the Spanish market, enables China to become an "economic adversary" within the European bloc itself.

But Pedro Sanchez is not the only European leader taking a different path. Global fluctuations are causing other European countries to feel pressure, the possibility of being exposed to harm, and uncertainty about the possibility of relying on the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump.

Many see Trump's trade and defense policies as unpredictable and sometimes aggressive. Therefore, EU member states have begun to choose strategic partners that they believe serve their national interests, even if this leads to dissatisfaction or annoyance from their European partners.

Do these new alliances threaten to permanently dismantle the unity of the European Union or even NATO?

Germany and France, the two largest powers in the European Union, are taking one tougher approach towards China. The two countries want to give Brussels stronger powers to exclude government-backed Chinese competitors from the European market, in an effort to address the worsening trade deficit with Beijing, which the European Commission says is estimated at about one billion euros per day.

Other European countries also expressed their concern about the close relationship between China and Russia. While Beijing confirms that it does not support Russia militarily in its war in Ukraine, defense experts believe that there is Chinese economic and technical support for Moscow in order to enable it to continue its military attack.

Therefore, while Spain is enthusiastically cozying up to Beijing, Madrid is being accused of putting its own interests above broader European interests.

“It's like a chicken-and-egg dilemma,” says Victor Cortizo, a lawyer and academic specializing in Sino-Spanish relations. “Has Spain moved away from its European allies, or have they moved away from us?”

He adds: "I think we are the ones who did this, that is, Spain. But this is legitimate. Political realism exists. If rapprochement with China attracts Chinese investments and strengthens the Spanish economy, that seems more strategically attractive than supporting allies who also seek to serve their own interests."

Cortizo was speaking amid stacks of shipping boxes at the end of the world's longest freight railway, which extends more than 13,000 kilometers between the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu and Madrid.

This line transports auto parts and electrical appliances to Spain while carrying products such as Spanish pork and red wine to China. This line is a symbol of growing relations between the two countries.

“Our prime minister made the decision to put national interest ahead of relations with the European Union,” Cortizo said. “Chinese investments in Spain have doubled over the past year alone.”

According to the Spanish Trade and Investment Authority (ICEX), Chinese investment in Spain is witnessing a significant increase, driven by investments led by new giant battery factories and automobile factories.

Cortizo believes that Spain may become Beijing's preferred European destination for investment, now that Hungary is no longer ruled by the pro-China Viktor Orban, whose country was described as "China's gateway to Europe."

He said: "American investments are declining, while the importance of Chinese investments here is increasing."

The United States remains the largest single foreign investor in Spain, but net American investments have declined by about one billion euros, according to the Spanish Ministry of Economy.

Spanish society now views China more positively than it views the United States, the country's traditional ally.

According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center and published this summer, it was found that 54 percent of Spaniards have positive views of China, compared to only 30 percent who see the United States as a good partner.

Cortizo says that China is making trade easier, while the United States, through the tariffs imposed by Trump and the repercussions of the war in Iran, has made trade more difficult.

The Spaniards also watched the US President threaten their Prime Minister with economic sanctions when he refused to respond to Trump's demands to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP or allow US bases in Spain to be used to carry out attacks against Iran.

This is why many citizens in Spain see China as more reliable than the United States.

When Chery Automobiles chose Spain two years ago as its first European manufacturing and operations center, it brought new life to the faltering Spanish brand Ebro.

“Chinese companies are investing in car manufacturing in Spain and filling the gaps we suffer from,” says Cortizo.

But the Europeans fear that Chinese factories on Spanish soil will weaken the European single market.

Chery's investments are not limited to Barcelona. The Chinese company Hethium, which specializes in batteries and energy storage, intends to invest in Navarra in northern Spain, and Catel is also participating in building a giant factory for iron phosphate and lithium batteries in Zaragoza, about 320 kilometers west of Barcelona.

Opponents of this trend fear that these projects are part of the efforts of Chinese companies to localize production within the European Union with the aim of avoiding customs duties on imports of Chinese electric cars.

On the other hand, Miguel Otero, a specialist on China at the Royal Elcano Institute in Madrid, accuses Spain's European allies of arrogance and double standards.

“France, Italy and Germany all have special strategic relations with China,” he says. “Spain is not going much further than they did, but rather it has been catching up with them.”

He adds that Spain's priority today is to diversify partners, after it is no longer possible to fully rely on the United States. It wants to enhance its business not only with China, but also with Canada, Brazil, India and Africa, stressing that Spain is not obsessed with China.

But there are also security questions.

During his last visit to Beijing in April, Sanchez met with the founder of the Chinese wind turbine company Mingyang, whose plans to establish the UK's largest wind turbine factory in the Scottish Highlands had been halted on national security grounds.

This came after widespread controversy in the European Union after the Spanish Ministry of the Interior awarded Huawei a contract worth 12.3 million euros to manage and store sensitive data related to judicial eavesdropping last year.

Members of the European Parliament, belonging to various political blocs, said that the Spanish contract could put the entire European Union at risk.

“When a high-risk provider is introduced... we risk not only a local data breach, we risk damage to the entire European intelligence-sharing ecosystem,” Marketa Grigorova, a Czech Pirate Party lawmaker and former member of the Greens parliamentary bloc, said in February.

Meanwhile, Juan Ignacio Zoido Alvarez, a member of the center-right Spanish opposition party, said that the decision puts “the entire European Union at risk.”

The Spanish Ministry of Defense still denies any risks, but Julianne Smith, former US ambassador to NATO and co-founder of geopolitical consultancy Clarion Strategies, warns that the issue could undermine European cohesion.

“As EU countries look for ways to hedge against the United States, which some see as an unpredictable and unreliable partner, they must be careful not to rush into alternatives that could weaken the union’s collective position,” Smith says.

She added: “Some of these growing relationships, such as the accelerating relationship between Canada and the European Union, may bring real benefits. But others, such as Spain’s decision to deepen its relationship with China, may weaken the European Union’s ability to speak with one voice and create additional security gaps for Spain and Europe more broadly.”

Spain is not the only country in the European Union that is making controversial alliances, as other countries such as Finland and Greece are moving to conduct strategic defense contracts outside the framework of the traditional European consensus in order to preserve their national security interests.