During China visit, Spanish PM to push for ‘territorial integrity’ of Ukraine
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez will visit China next week.
Spanish Prime MinisterPedro Sanchez said on Saturday (March 25) that during his visit to China next week, he would push for"territorial integrity" ofwar-torn Ukraine. Speaking to reporters at the Ibero-American Summit meeting in the Dominican Republic, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said that he would discuss peace prospects with Chinese President Xi Jinping,who is trying to position himself as a mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
"The most important thing...is that when this peace is reached in Ukraine, it will be fair and lasting...and when we talk about fair, I mean that the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which has been violated by Putin, is respected," the prime minister added.
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Spain is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and has been astaunch ally of Ukraine and promised to send 10 Leopard tanks to the war-torn country. Prime Minister Sanchez will meet Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing's peace plan toend Ukraine war.
Sanchez is the second leader of a European country to visit China since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. In November last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had visited China.
The Spanish PM's visit comes as Spainwill assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union in July.
Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping madea high-profile visit to Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to a joint statement on Thursday, Russia welcomed China's readiness to play a positive role in a political-diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
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"The Russian side positively assesses the objective and unbiased position of the Chinese side on the Ukrainian question. The parties are opposed to any states and their blocs damaging the legitimate security interests of other states in order to obtain military, political and other advantages," the joint statement, translated by the news agency Reuters, said.
During the meeting, Putin praised Beijing's12-point position paper on the conflict. The 12 points in the paper talked aboutresuming peace talks, ceasing hostilities, keeping nuclear power plants safe and protecting civilians and prisoners of war (POWs). However, the peace plan was criticised by the United States and some experts.
(With inputs from agencies)
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