© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden talks with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez previous to the beginning of a mangrove planting occasion at Ngurah Rai Forest Park, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia November 16, 2022. Dita Alangkara/Pool vi
2/2
(This Might 11 story has been corrected to take away reference to extra weight in paragraph 1)
By Belén Carreño
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will ask U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday to hearken to the opinions of non-NATO members reminiscent of China and Brazil on the conflict in Ukraine, a Spanish diplomatic supply mentioned.
Madrid agrees with Washington on the illegality of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the necessity to arm Kyiv’s forces.
However it’s positioning itself as an middleman due to its shut ties to Latin American nations and extra conciliatory relations with Beijing.
The primary White Home assembly between the 2 NATO allies comes simply weeks earlier than Sanchez takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second half of the 12 months.
Sanchez visited Beijing in March and acquired Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Madrid final month.
China is an ally of Russia and has advocated an alternate peace plan to the one championed by NATO allies. Lula has additionally made controversial statements on ending the battle in Ukraine, from which Sanchez has distanced himself.
However Sanchez will convey to Biden the divergent views of Beijing and Brasilia, who’re additionally impacted by the conflict, the supply mentioned.
The assembly takes place as Europe seeks to bolster homegrown trade and safe dependable sources of uncooked supplies and vitality in addition to discovering methods to rival the inexperienced subsidies introduced by the Biden administration underneath the Inflation Discount Act.
Sanchez will define to Biden the idea of “open strategic autonomy”, a central coverage of his forthcoming European mandate which, in accordance with a second authorities supply, shouldn’t be meant to veer in direction of protectionism however to cut back the Europe’s “vulnerabilities”.
Potential cooperation on the manufacture and/or provide of microchips and semiconductors and the exploitation of the uncommon earth minerals from Latin America can even be on the agenda between the 2 leaders.
