When Jordi Pujol met with the Japanese emperor

BarcelonaOn May 24, 1990, the chronicle of the special envoy ofThe Country in Tokyo, José Antich -now director ofThe National-, explained the meeting between the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Jordi Pujol, and the Japanese Emperor Akihito. He emphasized that the head of the Catalan government, accompanied by his wife, Marta Ferrusola, and the Spanish ambassador, Camilo Barcia, had conveyed to the Japanese head of state "the important role that King Juan Carlos played in Spain during the Transition and in support of the freedoms of Catalonia." It was not the first time Pujol had met with the Japanese emperor, having already done so five years earlier on another trip to Japan (Akihito was a prince) and had also received him in Barcelona together with the mayor, Pasqual Maragall. This week, the president, Salvador Illa, also visited Japan as part of a tour to strengthen relations with the Asian world, but with an agenda that contrasts with that of his predecessor thirty-five years ago.

The head of the government has stated -asked about the twenty journalists who accompanied him- that the purpose of his trip was not to establish a political profile, but rather an economic and cultural one. Aragonès - and the mayor of Osaka. An authority, however, who received. with applause the presidentIn South Korea, where he finished his tour this week, he did not meet with any political authorities, but he did hint that on his next trip to China—where the government seems to be opening a delegation—he wants things to be different. In this sense, he is following the strategy of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez of opening up to Asia at a time of crisis in relations with the United States—it should be remembered that He was the first European leader to set foot In the midst of the Trump administration's tariff war with the European Union, which raised eyebrows in Washington.

Isla's trip to Japan reflects what the president has prioritized so far in his tenure at the helm of the Generalitat, in which he always opts for a low political profile—his goal is to contrast his term with the tensions of the Process—and prioritizes socioeconomic announcements. This is a strategy that has worked well for him so far, because it doesn't generate any sympathies among the majority of the electorate—supporters of the PSC, ERC, Comuns, Junts, and the PP approve of him as leader—but it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to consolidate his presidency. And even more so if Illa intends to expand his reach by also capturing more moderate nationalism. Until now, the Generalitat had always projected itself abroad as something more than the rest of the autonomous regions of the State, even during the times of the PSC in the Government, especially with Pasqual Maragall. He had always flaunted his uniqueness, and that implies establishing a political profile.

Spain is experiencing its Process

While Catalonia lives the pax From Isla, politics in Madrid is experiencing one of its most tense moments in recent years. The last chapter is the audio published by The Confidential in which characters linked to the PSOE –although the party denies it– They plot against the UCO of the Civil GuardWhat seemed like it could be an exception and was done with the independence movement—with Operation Catalunya—or Podemos, now appears to exist in a part of the State that practices it directly against the Spanish government. And there are people with ties to the PSOE who want to respond in kind. The Moncloa (Spanish State) publicly distances itself from this, but it also fails to take advantage of the plurinational majority to implement the reforms necessary to put an end to these practices.

The main question in all this is whether the judicial siege of Pedro Sánchez will end with his own indictment. Would Juntos save him from a request for pardon, if necessary? Puigdemont might be tempted to let him fall just because the Socialists voted against his immunity in the European Parliament. Now, apparently this week with the officialization of Catalan, there is a truce between Junts and the PSOE, because the regional council members have placed all the responsibility on Alberto Núñez Feijóo. This will remain the case at least until the Constitutional Court resolves all the amnesty appeals. Sánchez, therefore, continues to see himself capable of completing his term. If there's a hypothesis now, it's that he wants to coincide the Spanish elections with the municipal and regional elections in most autonomous regions in 2027. A new all-in of the Spanish president in which he would risk everything.

The poster of Catalonia written with Ñ from the Osaka exhibition has been one of the photographs of the counter-chronicle of Isla's trip. The government defended itself by saying that this section had been prepared by the Spanish government. However, upon their arrival in South Korea, they were able to verify that the Koreans, unlike the state, had indeed taken Catalan into account when welcoming the president of the Generalitat.

While journalists awaited the visit to the Korean company Lotte, with whom President Salvador Illa met to provide assurances regarding the investment stranded in Mont-roig del Camp for the battery components plant, they were given cookies wrapped in blue paper. The surprise was that they were called "pepero," which means "collapsed" in Korean.