The visit by Pedro Sanchez comes amid the West’s lukewarm reaction to Xi Jingping’s 12-point peace proposal to end the invasion of Ukraine – Photo: Reuters/Susana Vera

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping today in Beijing.

The meeting between them will likely focus on China’s 12-point peace proposal to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine. China’s proposal attempts to position Xi as a mediator in the conflict, calling for an end to Western sanctions and the resumption of peace talks and grain exports.

The plan has a received mixed reactions in the West, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken dismissing it as a distraction from China’s long-standing pro-Russia stance. In contrast, Sanchez, whose government is set to take over the EU presidency in June, said that the world should listen to what China has to say on the conflict. Ukraine itself is cautiously open to meeting Xi to discuss the proposal, while Russia claims that the plan could be used to end the war but only if the US and the West want peace.

Sanchez’s visit may cause other western countries to take Xi’s plan more seriously and opens the door for other western leaders to directly engage with China about Ukraine. If Ukraine remains open to Xi’s proposal, a high-level meeting between Chinese and Ukrainian officials may take place in the coming months. However, China will likely continue its strategic ambiguity towards Ukraine for the foreseeable future in order to maintain its working relations with both Europe and Russia.