MADRID, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Since the initial outbreak of COVID-19, trains between China and Europe have been operating a "green channel" for the transportation of medical and raw materials.
This is what China's Ambassador to Spain Wu Haitao said in a recent interview with Xinhua, with protective masks and suits, as well as other medical materials, arriving in Madrid this week on Chinese-operated trains.
The ambassador highlighted that the China-Europe trains, serving the transportation needs of the Belt and Road Initiative, have maintained stable operations and become an important link connecting China, Europe and other countries during the pandemic.
They have also played an active and important role in stabilizing international supply and production chains and maintaining economic and commercial exchanges between countries.
The medical materials acquired by the Spanish government, more than 250 tons, arrived in Madrid over the last three days. The commercial railway route of the Yiwu-Madrid freight train travels 13,052 km along eight countries including Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France, making it the longest railway line in the world.
According to Carlos Santana, managing director of the subsidiary of the Yiwu-Madrid train operator in Spain, medical materials have constantly been arriving in Madrid in recent months from Yiwu, the largest commodity distribution hub in the world, located in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.
He stressed that the transport of goods by rail has emerged as a reliable and trustworthy alternative in the months of confinement under the pandemic, allowing the easy import of medical materials and other goods from China.
By May 31, the China-Europe trains from Yiwu have totaled up to 200, including 16,672 standard coaches, with volumes that represent an increase of 72 percent compared to the same period last year, according to statistics from the operating company of the trains.
Xulio Rios, director of the China Policy Observatory based in Galicia, Spain, told Xinhua that the freight trains linking China and Europe have become a symbol of the satisfaction of mutual interests.
"In the EU, Spain should play a constructive role, also promoting cooperation with China. Such an attitude responds not only to its immediate interests but also to the demands of the post-pandemic world," Rios said.
China is Spain's main commercial and economic partner in Asia, as well as the main destination of Spanish exports in the region. China is also currently Spain's largest trading partner outside the EU, while Spain is China's sixth largest trading partner within the EU bloc.
According to official statistics, some 15,000 Spanish companies export to China and some 600 more are established in the Asian country in sectors such as energy, automobiles, financial services, industrial technology, agro-food and consumer goods.
China is the seventh largest investor in Spain, while 150 Chinese companies have established themselves in different Spanish cities and have created 15,000 jobs, according to data from the Spanish government's Institute for Foreign Trade. Enditem
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