Four trips, dozens of deals, and one message: Madrid is moving closer to Beijing – on its own terms When Spain’s Pedro Sánchez arrived in Beijing in April for his fourth visit in four years, he did so for a tightly choreographed round of high-level meetings with Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials, alongside business and academic engagements. Officially, the visit revolved around cooperation: trade, green energy, technology, and multilateral governance. Spain, Sánchez reiterated, rejects the fashionable rhetoric of “decoupling” and instead champions interconnected supply chains. He urged China to take on a greater role in global governance, from climate change to artificial intelligence to nuclear security. This sounds like standard globalist responsibility-sharing talk, but there’s a strategic motive behind it. Spain is stepping into a role that others in Europe have either abandoned or mishandled: that of a credible, influential interlocutor with Beijing. Brussels’ favorite son vs.…