China's vice president visits Spain as mutual courtship blossoms

MADRID (Reuters) -China's Vice President Han Zheng arrived in Spain on Tuesday for a four-day trip during which he will meet with King Felipe and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a further sign of increasingly close economic and political ties.

Han's visit is taking place two months after Sanchez visited Beijing for the third time in as many years. There, he sought to woo China's President Xi Jinping as global trade reels from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs policy.

The Socialist premier has been vying to position Madrid as an interlocutor between China and the European Union, as well as to attract more Chinese investment in advanced technology such as batteries, electric vehicles and hydrogen.

Last year, auto maker Stellantis and Chinese battery maker CATL announced plans to build one of Europe's largest EV battery factories in Spain.

However, not all is idyllic in Spain's relations with China. Beijing's anti-dumping inquiry into EU pork launched last year in retaliation for Brussels' tariffs on Chinese EVs hit Spain, a top exporter, hard.

Sanchez's last visit to China, however, clinched expanded access for Spanish exports of pork stomach - a product widely consumed in China but not previously authorised.

Han will meet with Sanchez on Wednesday morning in Madrid, Sanchez's office said, while King Felipe will receive the Chinese official on Thursday, according to the royal household's agenda. The Spanish monarch is also scheduled to visit China later this year to commemorate the signing of a strategic partnership 20 years ago.

After his meetings with Sanchez and Spain's king, Han is set to travel to Seville to meet Andalusia's regional leader, Juan Manuel Moreno, who last year secured over 2.5 billion euros ($2.86 billion) of Chinese investments in the southern Spanish region.

According to projections by tourism lobby Turespana, the number of visitors to Spain from China is expected to surge by 36% this summer compared to last year, making Spain the European destination with the biggest growth in tourists from the Asian nation.

($1 = 0.8749 euros)

(Reporting by David Latona; Additional reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by Charlie Devereux and Paul Simao)

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