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\nChinese President Xi Jinping has invited Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez to Beijing for a state visit as Xi tries to galvanize support for China’s peace proposal for Ukraine.
Spain\u2019s minister for the presidency, F\u00e9lix Bola\u00f1os, confirmed late Wednesday that S\u00e1nchez would visit China on March 30-31, citing Xi\u2019s \u201cpossible mediation in the war in Ukraine\u201d as a key reason for the visit.
Spain takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency in July, and S\u00e1nchez has portrayed his nation on the world stage as a staunch NATO ally of Ukraine.
He plans to hold commercially focused meetings during the Boao Forum for Asia on the Chinese island of Hainan on March 30 before traveling to Beijing to meet with Xi on March 31, S\u00e1nchez’s office said.
Xi met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to promote Beijing\u2019s peace plan for Ukraine, which Western nations have all but dismissed as unviable. Putin said it could be a basis for ending the fighting when the West is ready but added that Ukraine’s Western allies have not shown interest.<\/p>\n