On separate trips, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sept. 8 started a China visit, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will start a visit on Sept. 9. Global Times writes optimistically that these visits “reflected a consensus among European countries to stabilize China relations,” and that experts were “expressing the hope that such in-depth communication can encourage European countries to adopt a more balanced and comprehensive view of bilateral trade relations and avoid a tariff decision that could cause loss to both sides.”
In addition to meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, both European prime ministers will visit Shanghai “to engage with business communities and attend events about cultural and people-to-people exchanges,” according to news reports and information obtained by the Global Times. Most interesting is that Sanchez will oversee the opening of a “Cervantes Institute” in Shanghai.
According to the Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai, Prime Minister Støre will attend the christening ceremony of a Norwegian company-owned ship built at a shipyard near Shanghai in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu Province. Fifty-five ships owned by Norwegian shipowners are currently under construction in China, out of 124 globally, per the statement.
