I invite you this week to a trip to decipher chinese arcana. Since the topic is quite complex, let’s start with an analogy that, like all analogies, is imperfect, but it will help.
Imagine that, after the civil war, the Government of the Republic would have taken refuge in the Balearic Islands and there he would have established the Republic of Spain. The Peninsula, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla would form the Kingdom of Spain. Imagine that it is still an authoritarian regime. Madrid would ask for the reincorporation, by hook or by crook, of the Balearic Islands. They create a principle, that of “one Spain”. The democratic Government of Palma de Mallorca says no. Both consider themselves the legitimate repositories of the essence of the Spanish State. The rest of the world only the Government of Madrid recognizesbut maintains economic relations and has delegations with Palma de Mallorca.
Something similar happens with the People’s Republic of Chinacapital Beijingand the Republic of Chinaofficial name of Taiwancapital Taipei. After a bloody civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, in 1949 the Kuomintang party, which until then governed the country from Beijing, took refuge on the island of Taiwan. A country emerged 24 million peopletechnologically rich and leading, and a central power in global semiconductor manufacturing. Defended and armed by the United States.
He Chinese Communist Party, After winning the war, he began govern the current Chinese giant from Beijingthe second world economic power with 1.4 billion inhabitants.
The bulk of the world maintains full diplomatic relations with Beijing. Con Taiwandiplomatic representation is lowered to the level of economic office and commercial.
We now reach the promised part of the Chinese arcana. The first is a paradigm created by the Chinese Communist Party called “one China principle”. It states three things:
1.- There is only a china in the world.
2.- Taiwan is a part inalienable of its territory.
3.- The Government of the People’s Republic of China It is the only legal government that represents all of China.
The second is a paradigm created by the West to deal with the thorny issue, the so-called “one China policy”. There are not two Chinas, one in Taiwan and the other on the Chinese mainland. There is one. Taiwan belongs to China, like Shenzhen belongs to China. Complete relations are maintained only with one Government, that of Beijing. Which Government is the legitimate representative of the Chinese people? That’s the thing!
We return to the present. Pedro Sánchez was this week on his fourth trip as president to the People’s Republic of China. He has met with the head of state, Xi Jinpingin Beijing. They have talked about very important things, such as Iran and Ukraine warsand have established for the first time a Strategic Dialogue between both countries, which places us at the level of France, Germany or Italy, among others.
But there has been some media noise. The newspaper El Mundo headlined “Beijing attributes Sánchez’s secret support for the annexation of Taiwan. The official note maintains that ‘Spain firmly adheres to the principle of one China.'” The headline is not correct. The subtitle is.
Government sources assure this newspaper that Sánchez throughout the meeting spoke of “one china policyIn their summary of the meeting, the Chinese however wrote that there had been “adhering to the one-China principle“This is what China always writes when a foreign leader visits them. Whatever expression they use in private, in their statement they put the “one China principle.” It happened with Germany and France recentlyFor example. Therefore, from that Chinese note it cannot be deduced that Spain “supports the annexation of Taiwan”, any more than Germany or France do.
BUT
There is a incoherence in the language used by Spain. There are at least two documents on the pages of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Moncloa in which it is stated that “Spain adheres to the one-China principle“, as the Chinese analyst Xiani pointed out to this newspaper. Spain-China joint declaration of 2018 after the visit of Xi Jinping (“the Government of Spain reaffirms its adherence to the one-China principle”) and the most recent “Joint Plan to strengthen the Spain-China strategic partnership“, after Sánchez’s visit in 2025, who uses the same expression. On the other hand, in a “Country file” of Taiwan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 2022, the expression is used “one China policy”.
So which one is correct? The Government must clarify itbecause it’s all really very confusing, as you may have noticed if you’ve gotten this far. But it is relevant; words in diplomacy matter. Maybe it’s a sought ambiguity, but that gives rise to risky interpretations. For years, Spain has been using a formulation closer to Beijing in some documents, while other official pieces use the more ambiguous EU terminology.
The European Union defines its relations with Taiwan based on the “one China policy”. The Commission’s official website reads: “While the EU maintains its ‘one China’ policy and recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China, the EU and Taiwan have developed strong relations and close cooperation in a wide range of areas.”
He The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not responded to this newspaper’s requests for clarification.
One last note. When the Franco Government established diplomatic relations with China at the embassy level from March 1973, Spain declared in the diplomatic note that it “recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the only legal Government of China and recognizes the position of the Chinese Government according to which Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China and has decided to suppress its official representation in Taiwan before April 10, 1973.”
And how do you see it? Can you reply to my email? to comment on it.
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