Drawing on experience

MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY In the long weeks that separate us from Jan 20, 2025, when Donald Trump takes office, analyses are being fine-tuned in several European capitals, shrouded in bewilderment. Spanish Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, has recently declared that "Europe has to have its own view and its own position "distinct from both the United States and China when it comes to trade and tariffs, and that "Spain has to do its own analysis", insisting on "exhausting all possible avenues of negotiation and dialogue" with China in order to "reach an acceptable vision for both parties". After two visits to China in the past two years by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Madrid sees "huge potential" of bilateral cooperation. Concomitantly, Spain wants to highlight to Chinese investors Spain's long-standing cultural and economic ties with other Spanish-speaking countries, in order to serve, in parallel to the Latin American countries' respective bilateral ties with China. Felipe Gonzalez, the former Spanish prime minister who led Spain's transition to democracy from 1982 onwards and is remembered, among other things, for spreading the famous saying by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping "it doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice", which he learned in Beijing during his official visit in 1985, has called in various fora for correctly interpreting two famous reports to guide the work of the European Commission and the European Council this year, and particularly from next year on, in the light of the current challenges.