Madrid
During a visit to the US this Thursday (11th) and Friday (12th), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is expected to ask Joe Biden to take Brazil and China into account when making decisions about the Ukraine war. The information was leaked anonymously to Portal news agency by a Spanish diplomatic source.
Brazil and China are not part of NATO, the western military alliance. Washington and Madrid are members, which means by convention that they have the same opinion on the need to arm and support Ukraine against the aggressor Russia.
However, Sánchez visited Beijing two months ago and two weeks ago received Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) at the Moncloa Palace, the seat of the Spanish government. On that occasion, the socialist leader thanked the Brazilian president for his interest in bringing the conflict to an end, but stressed that the peace proposal defended by each contained different “nuances”.
On the visit to the United States, Sánchez positions himself as a mediator, given his close ties with Latin American countries and the more conciliatory relationship he maintains with China. It will be the first meeting between the Spaniard and the American in the White House and comes just before Sánchez takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union which, along with the European Parliament, is the bloc’s main decisionmaking body in the second half of this year. Year.
By proposing to form a “peace club,” Lula has attempted to position itself as a mediator between nations at war, but has made no concrete progress. However, some of his statements had a negative impact on the international community and cast doubt on Brazil’s alleged neutrality.
For example, earlier last month, at a breakfast with journalists in Brasília, Lula hinted that Kyiv might need to cede territory to reach a deal with Moscow, declaring that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “won’t do the same”. can do anything he thinks he wants.”
The president also said at the time that Russian President Vladimir Putin “could not conquer any land in Ukraine,” but by not outright condemning Moscow for the invasion, he angered NATO countries’ leaders and diplomats. The loudest reactions came from the US, but the PT also faced dissenting opinions from leaders like Sánchez.
Both the Spaniard and the Brazilian were in China this year and spoke to Xi Jinping. Returning from Beijing in midApril, Lula declared that “the US needs to stop promoting war and start talking about peace” and called on the European Union to “show the goodwill so that we can go to Ukraine.” have peace again”. A tendency towards the Russian and Chinese side was also seen in both speeches.
Sanchez in March encouraged Xi to speak with Zelenskyy and learn about Kiev’s proposal to end the conflict. “It is a plan that lays the foundation for a lasting peace in Ukraine and is fully consistent with the UN Charter and its principles, which Putin violated with the invasion,” said the Spaniard.
Three weeks ago, Xi actually made a phone call for Zelenskyy. He said that “China has always been on the side of peace” and that its “central stance is to facilitate negotiations.” Xi added that his country “neither caused nor is part of the crisis in Ukraine.” “As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a big responsible country, I would not stand by or pour gasoline on the fire, let alone take advantage of the situation.”
In February, as the war marked its first anniversary, China released its own peace plan for the conflict in Eastern Europe. Divided into twelve points, the proposals include, for example, opposing the use of nuclear weapons, ending sanctions imposed on Moscow and rejecting what Beijing calls the “Cold War mentality”, i.e. the division of the world into blocs.
Sánchez will have accomplished a great feat if he manages to somehow facilitate dialogue between Biden and Xi, especially with regard to the war in Ukraine. That’s not the only agenda the Spaniard is bringing to Washington, however. The prime minister will outline to the White House his policy for the European mandate, dubbed “open strategic autonomy,” which seeks to reduce Europe’s vulnerability without veering into protectionism an issue Biden and the EU have been at odds over lately.
According to Portal, the union is trying to bolster domestic industry and secure reliable sources of raw materials and energy to find ways to keep up with green subsidies announced by the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. A possible cooperation in the manufacture and/or delivery of microchips and semiconductors as well as in the exploration of rare earths in Latin America is also on the agenda of the two heads of state and government.