A tale of two cities: why China appears so different when viewed from Barcelona and Prague

The stark contrast between Spain’s wish for close economic ties and Czech suspicion highlights the growing divide within the EU over China. With US President Donald Trump doing much to burn the transatlantic relationship, Sanchez has wasted little time in pivoting to China as an alternative, publicly pushing for a new EU approach. “Spain is in favour of a more balanced relationship between the European Union and China, of finding negotiated solutions to our differences, and of greater cooperation in areas of common interest,” Sanchez said when he visited Beijing in April – his third visit of its kind in two years. “The public discourse towards China is mostly about the economy, it’s very different to other countries in Europe now, where the debate is much more politicised, but in Spain is not politicised at all,” said Javier Borras Arumi, a researcher on China at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. “The politicised international issues are Palestine, Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, sometimes even Morocco. But China is not in the debate.”