China ready to work with Spain to push all-round cooperation to new level: premier

Chinese Premier Li Qiang held talks with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing on Friday, calling for joint efforts to push all-round cooperation to a new level.

Li said China is ready to work with Spain to adopt an open and pragmatic attitude toward bilateral cooperation in a volatile and turbulent world.

Both sides should further synergize their development strategies, continuously tap the potential of trade and investment cooperation, and deepen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, new energy, science and technology, and education, so as to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results at a higher level, said the premier.

Li underscored that the United States' imposition of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" seriously undermines the international economic and trade order and has a major negative impact on the global economy.

China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Spain and the European Union (EU) in opposing unilateralism and protectionism, jointly safeguarding the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, keeping the global industrial and supply chains stable and unimpeded, and safeguarding international fairness and justice and the common interests of all parties, Li continued, expressing the hope that Spain will play an active role in advancing China-EU cooperation.

During the talks, Sanchez said the Spanish government abides by the one-China principle and stands ready to maintain close high-level exchanges with China, consolidate political mutual trust, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of economy and trade and people-to-people exchanges.

Spain welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Spain and supports the EU and China to resolve differences through dialog and consultation and further develop EU-China relations, he said.

The U.S. imposition of additional tariffs is neither fair nor just, Sanchez concurred, adding it will harm the EU economy and that the EU will strengthen solidarity and coordination to safeguard its interests.

After the talks, Li and Sanchez jointly witnessed the signing of cooperation documents in such sectors as economy and trade, and science and technology.

The two sides jointly released an action plan on strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. Both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in economy and trade, investment, and scientific and technological innovation, jointly support free trade and open cooperation, and uphold multilateralism.

China ready to work with Spain to push all-round cooperation to new level: premier

China ready to work with Spain to push all-round cooperation to new level: premier

China ready to work with Spain to push all-round cooperation to new level: premier

China ready to work with Spain to push all-round cooperation to new level: premier

The United States cannot legitimize an operation that attacked Venezuela and captured its president, a Chinese scholar said Sunday.

On Saturday, the United States launched a large-scale strike on Venezuela, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were 'captured and flown out of Venezuela' according to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account.

Teng Jianqun, director of the Center for Diplomatic Studies at Hunan Normal University, said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) that the aim of this operation is to take full control of Venezuela’s natural resources.

"I don't think the United States can legitimize this operation to take custody of the president of Venezuela. And also I don't think the United States can legitimize its any action in taking the oil reserves of that country. This is actually a very dangerous game played by the Trump administration. And of course, the United States would like to take full control of that country and to take full control of the natural resources, especially the large reserve of oil in Venezuela," said Teng.

Teng said Venezuela is not an isolated case but a common practice by the United States. The United States launched an invasion of Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, which continued until January 1990, with the stated objective of capturing Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking and organized crime.

"We still remember the so-called sentence of the former president of Panama in the late 1980s. And this time, the president of Venezuela will be under some judicial condition (judicial proceedings) for the so-called drug trafficking and some other crimes. So I think this is not a single case for the Venezuela country, but also this is actually a practice by the United States -- to use force, to use so-called justice under law against any leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean waters," he said.

US cannot legitimize operation against Venezuela: Chinese scholar