Spain and China are cosying up - to the anger of many in the EU (www.bbc.com)

submitted 4 weeks ago by lechekaflan@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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[-] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 20 points 4 weeks ago

Didn’t Spain a really hard financial time in the 2010s and the rest of the UE laugh at them ?

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 15 points 4 weeks ago

Yes. As Portugal and Greece. The default reply was "clean your house". Spain took it to heart and is now in the "We don't care about your thoughts on house management" category.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 2 points 4 weeks ago

Got anything I can read about that? A cursory glance at Wikipedia says Spain got (and is still getting) EU aid.

[-] JandalsAweigh 19 points 4 weeks ago

Gee, I guess that's what happens when the other traditional superpower destroys the relationship. This is only the beginning of the global shift away from the USA.

[-] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Trump is the ultimate useful fool. It is but replacing one hegemony with another.

[-] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 15 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

The article also discusses Greek and Finnish rapprochement with Apartheid Israel. This really is a story about European disunity, but the BBC editors chose a headline that makes it about China.

For the EU to have a common foreign policy, it has to take into account all states' needs. Greece a d Cyprus cannot be asked to sacrifice their national security any less than Finland or Poland. And the Germans, French and Dutch don't get to finger wag and lecture and fuck over the PIIGS when it suits them and then bitch about bespoke economic solutions afterwards.

So pick: do Northerners feel like they have a patriotic stake in the Aegean or Nicosia? Do Southerners feel like they have a stake in German auto factories? Do Westerners feel like they have a stake in keeping chinese drones away from Polish towns? Do Easterners feel like they have a stake in social safety nets in Portuguese villages? Do all of them care about rule of law, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the treaties and conventions that we have all signed on as Europeans? If so, European solutions become possible. If not, let's just go back to the EEC and stop pretending this Europe thing ever actually meant anything.

[-] Firelord@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

The BBC spreading sinophobia for no discernible reason? Color me shocked. Let's just hope this finally opens the door for more collaboration with China.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 5 points 4 weeks ago

That's just sound policy; the US-China rivalry never had much of anything to do with Europe.

There isn't just Chery in Barcelona. Chinese battery and stationary-energy-storage company Hithium plans to invest in Navarra in the north of Spain and battery manufacturer CATL is involved in building a lithium iron phosphate battery gigafactory in Zaragoza, 200 miles west of Barcelona. Critics fear these projects are part of Chinese companies' efforts to localise production in the EU to evade tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. Critics fear these projects are part of Chinese companies' efforts to localise production in the EU to evade tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles.

Isn't that, like, the point insofar as there is a point other than rank oligarchy?

[-] greenbit@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 weeks ago

This is strange, previously the far right countries like Hungary ally with China, whereas Spain has been a bit left leaning

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 2 points 4 weeks ago

That's not quite true. Russia is an ally with the European far right while everyone else (except tankies) steers clear of them. The beef with China meanwhile is very much a centrist establishment position (because it's relevant to American interests and European auto manufacturers), while everyone else couldn't care less. What Spain is doing is only ideologically coded in the sense that the center won't do it.

[-] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

trading tyrants. never a wise decision.

how about Europe become independent?

no...can't have that. if they would rely on themselves for all their manufacturing needs they wouldn't be able to stand in their ivory tower and look down on everyone destroying their environment for profit!

this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026

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