Spanish PM calls for a multipolar world in Tsinghua speech

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on Monday for embracing a multipolar world order during a speech at Tsinghua University in Beijing, warning against outdated zero-sum perspectives and citing the 16th-century experience of Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci to illustrate the danger of a single-centered worldview.

Sanchez kicked off a five-day visit to China on Sunday, marking his fourth trip to the country.

"Four hundred years have passed, but unfortunately, there are still people who see the world through that original, distorted map," Sanchez told an audience of university officials, faculty and students. "That view is not only wrong, but very dangerous. It traps us in the past and limits our imagination of possibilities."

Recalling Ricci's arrival in China in 1583 with a European map that placed Europe at the center and Asia at the edge, Sanchez said Chinese cartographers at the time asked why China appeared on the periphery. Ricci then redrew the map with the Pacific Ocean at its center — a lesson, Sanchez noted, that remains highly relevant today.

"What is happening today is not a transfer of hegemony, but an increase in multipolarity — not only in power, but also in prosperity," he said.

Progress is taking place simultaneously in different regions with different cultures and political systems — in China, in Africa, and in Latin America — without needing anyone's permission, he added.

"A multipolar world is not an assumption or an ideal, but a new reality. We cannot change it; we can only deny it or embrace it."

Spain, he said, chooses to embrace it with realism, responsibility and hope.

"If Spain, China and Europe have achieved shared prosperity in the past, there is no reason we cannot do so again," he said.

Sanchez acknowledged differences and competition between countries, but stressed that human progress comes from building common ground, not deepening divides. Spain seeks a relationship with China based on mutual respect — cooperating where possible, competing where necessary, and managing differences where unavoidable, he said.

The prime minister then outlined three key actions to make the multipolar world function properly.

First, he called for reshaping multilateralism. Spain advocates reforming the UN to give more power to the General Assembly, make the Security Council more representative, and establish a more democratic decision-making mechanism.

Second, Sanchez stressed the need for fair and reciprocal trade relations. He expressed hope that China would further open its market to help address existing imbalances.

Third, he said major countries must shoulder greater global responsibilities in areas such as climate change, public health, AI governance, nuclear safety and poverty eradication.

"Size means not only power, but also more responsibility," he said, noting that global investment in these areas has dropped by 23 percent this year.

Sanchez also highlighted the European Union's role.

"Without a united EU, there will be no stable global order, just as without China's participation, the world cannot achieve true stability and prosperity," he said.

Concluding his address, the prime minister evoked the recent image of four NASA astronauts viewing Earth from space — a blue planet without borders, unique and irreproducible.

"Humanity itself is a miracle, the only miracle in the world. Our responsibility is to make this miracle continue through mutual understanding and cooperation," Sanchez said.