Shanghai made history this week by becoming the first Asian metropolis to be invited as the city of distinction to Barcelona’s renowned cultural festival, La Merce. The main purpose of the extensive street processions in this region is to commemorate centuries-old Catalan traditions. It was quite an experience to observe velvet-clad Catalan pipers sashaying down Barcelona’s main boulevards, their mediaeval melodies blending with the lilting music that accompanied flocks of brightly dressed Chinese performers.
Shanghai Vise Mayor Lu Shan travelled to Barcelona to deliver a speech at the inaugural ceremony of La Merce. “A common spirit” is what distinguishes Chinese and Catalan cultural traditions, he observed, despite their formal differences. Spain and China are currently in a state of mutual admiration. However, this sense of camaraderie is not universally shared throughout the European Union.
In the past four years, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has visited Chinese President Xi Jinping on four separate occasions. Since Donald Trump’s re-election two years ago, he has encouraged the European Union as a whole to enhance its relationship with China.
Several of Spain’s European partners have expressed resentment and disapproval in response to Sanchez’s action, as they see Beijing as a potential geopolitical threat and strategic rival to the EU. In private, they enquire whether Madrid’s receptive approach, which involves opening its market to Chinese businesses, is allowing China to become the (economic) enemy within the bloc.
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