Chinese dragons danced through Barcelona crowds during La Merce, and Shanghai became the first Asian city invited as the city of honour to the festival. The spectacle has set nerves jangling across Europe, where many see Spain as drifting from the union’s shared course.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has visited Chinese President Xi Jinping four times in four years. He has urged the EU to improve relations with China since Trump’s re-election two years ago. Other EU leaders are also moving toward China, partly due to global volatility and uncertainty about America under Trump.
But Germany and France have united around a tougher stance on China, pushing Brussels to close off the EU market to subsidised Chinese competitors. The European Commission claims trade imbalances with Beijing reach a whopping â¬1bn (£850m) a day.
The Dragons of La Merce
Shanghai Vice Mayor Lu Shan flew to Barcelona for the festival’s opening ceremony. Lu Shan remarked that Chinese and Catalan cultural traditions share “a common spirit.”
The rail link between Yiwu and Madrid runs 13,000km (8,000 miles), largely carrying car parts and electrical goods to Spain and Spanish ham and wine to China. Chinese investment in Spain has doubled over the last year, per ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, the Spanish government’s trade and investment agency.
A Question of Loyalty
Victor Cortizo, a lawyer and academic specialising in Sino-Spanish relations, asked whether Spain distanced itself from allies or they distanced themselves from Spain. Cortizo argues Spain legitimately pursues national gain over EU relations.
The split is real. Spain’s move to welcome China is framed as national self-interest, not wider European good.
The Numbers Behind the Rift
| Measure | Figures |
|---|---|
| Trade imbalance with Beijing daily | â¬1bn (£850m) |
| Chinese investment growth in Spain | Doubled |
| US net investment in Spain fall | Around â¬1bn |
| Yiwu-to-Madrid rail distance | 13,000km (8,000 miles) |
The Case Against China
Beijing denies helping Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, but defence experts point to Chinese technological and economic support enabling Russia’s military assault. The EU’s biggest powers want to give Brussels tools to keep subsidised Chinese competitors out of the EU market, citing ballooning trade deficits.
A Pew Research Center poll found 54% of Spaniards view China favourably versus 30% who view the US favourably.
The New Factories
Chery Automobile chose Spain for its first European manufacturing and operations hub two years ago, reviving the defunct Spanish brand Ebro. Investments are driven by new battery gigafactories and car plants.
Critics worry Chinese factories in Spain will weaken the EU single market.
The Paper’s View
The facts are on the table. The dragons danced, the investments doubled, and the rail line carries goods between two continents. Whether Spain is strengthening its position or weakening the union is a question with no easy answer.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs the smaller government and the small business against the dragon spectacle and the big office writing its own authority, and is against the giant firm helping write the rules that raise the cost of entry for all others. The spectacle in Barcelona is not the problem — it is the symptom of a deeper drift, one that rewards the largest firms and punishes the rest.
The story shows a prime minister who has visited a foreign leader four times in four years, while other EU leaders grow wary of that very closeness. It shows a rail line carrying goods across 13,000km and Chinese investment doubling, while the EU’s two biggest powers push to close the market to subsidised competitors. It shows a trade imbalance of a billion euros a day, and a public opinion poll that favours China over the US. Each figure points in the same direction: power gathering in one place, and the small player paying the price.
The reader should watch for the next rulebook that gives the big firm an advantage over the small one. The reader should watch for the next office that writes its own authority, and for the next dragon spectacle that hides the true cost of the arrangement beneath it. Spain has chosen its path, and the rest of Europe watches to see if the cost of that choice will fall on the small player or the large one.
Key Facts
- Shanghai is the first Asian city invited as the city of honour to La Merce
- Pedro Sanchez has visited Xi Jinping four times in four years
- Chinese investment in Spain has doubled over the last year
- Trade imbalance with Beijing: â¬1bn (£850m) a day
- Yiwu-to-Madrid rail link: 13,000km (8,000 miles)
Source material: “Spain and China are cosying up – to the anger of many in the EU,” the BBC.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.