King Felipe VI of Spain received a formal welcome from Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, marking the Spanish monarch’s first state visit to China since becoming king following his father’s abdication in 2014.
The visit follows in the footsteps of Felipe’s father, the disgraced former king Juan Carlos, who became the first Spanish monarch to undertake a state visit to China back in 1978. Juan Carlos’s most recent state trip to the country took place in 2007, when he met then-President Hu Jintao. ALSO READ: Spain’s disgraced ex-king’s memoir spills secrets on Franco, extramarital affairs & accidentally killing his brother.
Felipe, 57, has travelled to China on several occasions, including for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Xi himself paid a state visit to Spain in 2018, and on Wednesday described Felipe as a ‘good friend of the Chinese people’.
The Spanish king noted that a ‘relationship of trust has been forged’ between the two nations, which this week mark the 20th anniversary of establishing their high-level bilateral relations.
Felipe and Queen Letizia arrived at Beijing’s imposing Great Hall of the People by limousine, where they were received by Xi alongside China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and commerce minister Wang Wentao.
According to figures from the Spanish Royal Household, China stands as Spain’s largest trading partner in Asia and its fourth-largest worldwide.
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🇨🇳 Tras el encuentro del Rey con el presidente de la República Popular China, ha tenido lugar la firma de compromisos entre España y China en el Gran Palacio del Pueblo (Pekín).
— Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) November 12, 2025
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