China’s Xi invites Spanish PM on state visit next week

MADRID (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Beijing for a state visit as Xi tries to galvanize support for China’s peace proposal for Ukraine. Spain’s minister for the presidency, Félix Bolaños, confirmed late Wednesday that Sánchez would visit China on March 30-31, citing Xi’s “possible mediation in the war in Ukraine” as a key reason for the visit. Spain takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency in July, and Sánchez has portrayed his nation as a staunch NATO ally of Ukraine. Xi met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to promote Beijing’s peace plan for Ukraine, which Western nations have all but dismissed as unviable.