Growing strength of Sino-Spanish ties

Cooperation in economics, culture, tourism and sports are four pillars that will support future China-Spain ties, said Manuel Valencia, the new Spanish ambassador in Beijing.

He called on the two countries to show more willingness to deepen cooperation.

The ambassador made his remarks on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain.

"Economics plays a core role in bilateral ties," said Valencia.

Spain is looking for more Chinese investment, said the ambassador, adding that the country's economy is very competitive after effective reforms were implemented.

"Spanish exports are growing at 7 percent worldwide and 19 percent to China. This is a good example," he said.

"The costs are lower (than most of Western Europe) and Spain has a lot of very good firms, so it is a good opportunity to invest in many sectors including real estate and the stock market," he added.

Great potential

Culture is another field for more cooperation, said the ambassador. He sees a great potential for the two countries to promote language learning, as language is the basis for people-to-people exchanges.

According to the ambassador, more Spanish people are interested in learning Chinese because they like Chinese culture and know Chinese language is a big advantage for those who would like to do business with the country.

"My sons are also learning Chinese," he noted.

Valencia said his country has opened a Cervantes Institute in Beijing and is looking forward to opening another in Shanghai.

"The demand is there - many Chinese people want to learn Spanish," the ambassador said. "It is very useful for Chinese to learn Spanish."

Tourism is another area for enhanced cooperation.

Spain is among the world's top three tourist destinations according to a ranking by the World Tourism Organization in 2012, with 65 million foreign visitors and students every year on average.

But there are still very few Chinese people, said the ambassador, adding that Spain now has many tourism promotion programs with Chinese travel agencies and will make even more effort to attract Chinese visitors.

Spain has landscapes that vary from very green to very dry areas, many places of interest such as castles and palaces, some of the best museums around the world, delicious food and fashionable designs, said the ambassador.

Ties in sports

Sports also play a very important role in ties between China and Spain, said the ambassador.

Many Chinese people are fans of football teams Real Madrid and Barcelona as well as tennis player Rafael Nadal and car racer Fernando Alonso.

"We have been doing a lot of work in the four areas and we have specific plans for every area," said the ambassador, promising that he and his team will continue to make every effort to boost the Beijing-Madrid cooperation in these sectors.

The ambassador paid his first China visit in 1986 and has witnessed the massive changes in recent decades.

"When I visited Beijing in 1996, people didn't approach you because you are a foreigner, but now everybody talks (with you)," said the ambassador, who has visited many cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an and Hong Kong.

"China and Spain have had diplomatic ties for the past 40 years, and since then the ties have always been very close. We are not excited about China only now, but we are excited about China always," said the ambassador.

"Chinese and Spanish can get along very easily, maybe because the two countries have cultures that are attractive to each other."

He sees a continuity of the favorable relations between China and Spain under the new leadership of China.