Ceuta and Melilla: What the Chinese Perspective Changes in a Moroccan Issue

Mcg24, Rabat

The crisis surrounding Ceuta and Melilla is no longer just confined to border management or migration flows. In China’s perspective on the issue, these two enclaves also emerge as matters of sovereignty, a chapter in Moroccan-Spanish relations, and, more broadly, an element of European balance.

Beijing Changes Its Vocabulary

In its official positions, China remains cautious. Beijing calls for a fight against irregular immigration and encourages dialogue between the parties, without taking a side in favor of Morocco or Spain.

However, the terminology employed in Chinese media is revealing. Coverage by the National Xinhua Agency frames Ceuta and Melilla within a sovereignty dispute between Rabat and Madrid.

This choice of words does not imply a recognition of Moroccan sovereignty. Nonetheless, it places the issue in a broader context than mere border security.

An Issue that Goes Beyond Migration

For Rabat, this shift in international narrative is significant. Morocco has long viewed Ceuta and Melilla as Moroccan territories under Spanish occupation. From this perspective, security cooperation with Madrid, particularly on migration, cannot erase the historical question of sovereignty.

This distinction becomes crucial: cooperating on border issues does not equate to relinquishing territorial claims.

What Beijing Observes

China is also considering the European repercussions of the issue: the cohesion of the European Union, border control, migration policy, and the relationship between Madrid, Brussels, and Washington.

Thus, Beijing has little interest in directly entering the Moroccan-Spanish dispute. Its approach is more about observing power dynamics and maintaining its diplomatic margins. This caution aligns with China’s stance on several territorial disputes: not engaging unless its direct interests demand it.

For Rabat, Narrative Matters as Much as Diplomacy

The goal for Morocco is not to secure a dramatic declaration from Beijing regarding Ceuta and Melilla. No such position exists today.

The focus, instead, is to gradually remove the issue from an exclusively European interpretation of "Spanish cities facing migration pressures" and reframe it as a historical sovereignty dispute between Morocco and Spain.

It is in this arena that Chinese attention could become significant for Rabat.

A Long-Term Battle

Morocco and Spain currently maintain close cooperation on several strategic issues. This relationship does not prevent Rabat from upholding its position on Ceuta and Melilla.

Morocco’s strategy thus hinges on a coexistence of bilateral cooperation with the maintenance of territorial claims, without rushing into confrontation.

China, for its part, observes this evolution pragmatically. Beijing does not officially support Morocco’s claim. However, its handling of the issue serves as a reminder that beyond migration and security, Ceuta and Melilla also remain a question of sovereignty. For Rabat, it is precisely this historical dimension that needs to be kept alive in the international debate.