Royal nod: (From left) Spain’s Queen Letizia and King Felipe VI posing for a photo with the secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China Wang Xiaouhui and Sichuan governor Shi Xiaolin before a luncheon in Chengdu. — AFP
King Felipe VI kicked off the first state visit to the country by a Spanish monarch in 18 years as Madrid pursued the most active courtship of Beijing within the European Union.
The four-day trip, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of high-level bilateral relations, should further cement business and political interests with China at a time when Spain’s ties with the world’s other superpower, the United States, are souring.
