This year marks the first “China-UK Cultural Exchange Year”, with both sides holding various activities in the other country, forming a bigger platform for the cultural creative industries in both countries as well as providing opportunities for people from both countries to enjoy literature and art and communicate with each other.
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Xi’s visit to Britain will further revitalize the forty-year-old China-Europe partnerships as the two sides embark on a new journey based on the consensus of peace, growth, reform and civilization.
During his upcoming visit to Britain, Xi will attend a banquet and visit research projects and local businesses in the northern industrial city of Manchester, which the British government wants to revitalize. “You must get the rail networks up to speed as a high speed rail network”, he said.
It follows a trip to China by British finance minister George Osborne, during which he said Britain should be China’s “best partner in the West”.
China is Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner, while Britain is China’s second-largest trading partner in the European Union and a top destination for Chinese investment.
“Last year… I expressed my anxiety that the United Kingdom was lagging behind a few European countries in its relations with China, and it had a few serious catching up to do”, Liu told reporters. The worldwide community also needs capacity building to cope with global challenges in sectors ranging from energy, food, the Internet and information security, global climate change, terrorism and epidemic control, Xi added.
“When those people come back to their home country, after studying, they know more about the country, and they know more about the people, culture, which makes for a stronger relationship”.
Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the bloc it joined in 1973 as the “in” and “out” campaigns prepare for a bruising battle in a referendum on membership.
President Xi Jinping is headed to London next week and will be occupied with signing various agreements that will initiate a “golden era” in Sino-British relations, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
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Xi Jinping said reform is necessary in order for China to play a greater role in global governance, and that worldwide organizations must reform in order to reflect the significance of emerging markets and developing countries.
