Even for an unwary western traveller, it was an avoidable pitfall.
Basking in the effusive warmth of the official welcome he had received in Beijing, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, left the Chinese capital last week convinced he had secured the promise of billions of dollars of investment in Spain’s struggling savings banks.
Had not Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, said that Spain was “China’s best friend in Europe”? Had he not also said that “two countries know true friendship in adversity, as the greenness of the pine tree is revealed in the harshest depths of the winter”? Westerners love a good Chinese proverb.
您已閱讀15%（642字），剩余85%（3612字）包含更多重要信息，訂閱以繼續探索完整內容，并享受更多專屬服務。