600 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 5 / 2015 SPAIN-CHINA, TEN YEARS OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP INTRODUCTION China established its first strategic partnership in 1993, at the height of international isolation, to boost relations with Brazil, a country with which it had no disputes or sanctions and with which trade was increasing. My aim in this article is to analyse what China understood by “strategic partner”, the reasons that led it to step up certain bilateral relations and its motives, in November 2005, for inviting Spain to become a member of what was then a select club, but which has since lost some of its lustre on account of the many new members that have joined over the last five years. Nevertheless, China continues to use it to enhance its image abroad and to protect its interests. After examining China’s incursion into the international arena after Deng Xiaoping began to open up the country to the outside world in December 1978 and a brief look at early foreign policy in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), I will move on to the real aim of the study and look at Beijing’s determination to lift the arms and technology embargos that were imposed on it by the West following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Spain – having minimal economic and financial relations with China - played only a minor role during the early years of China’s almost unconditional opening up to the West. However, in November 1990, with China forced into isolation by the West, the then Spanish Foreign Minister, Francisco Fernández Ordóñez, became the first Western authority to visit Beijing. This was the Spanish Government’s way of showing its support for the reforms undertaken by Deng and the continuity of its opening up policy. This huge gesture of support was highly appreciated by Beijing, and from that moment on it regarded Madrid as one of its closest allies. Spain had laid the foundation for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership it would be offered fifteen years later by President Hu Jintao. THE CONCEPT OF STRATEGY In order to understand the different perceptions of strategic partnerships, we must first analyse the meaning of the term “strategy”. According to the Chinese dictionary, strategy is translated as zhanlue(战略), which is comprised of two characters: zhan http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
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