Andrew Hornigold, a corporate technology expert at City law firm Pinsent Masons, said: “Alongside investment into major infrastructure projects in UK’s rail and energy sector, Chinese investment into Britain will focus on hi-tech, IT, research and development”.
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had threatened to raise the issue with the president at the banquet if he was not given an audience at a separate meeting.
They have written banners in Chinese and say they want to send a message to the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping that developer EDF’s Hinkley C would be “a bad investment” for the Chinese state.
Security chiefs have reportedly raised concerns with ministers about the security implications of deciding to allow Chinese companies with links to the military establishment to obtain a stake in three planned nuclear power plants.
“The Treasury is in the lead and it isn’t listening to anyone – they see China as an opportunity, but we see the threat”. The survey shows that less than a third of United Kingdom people back the new nuclear reactor.
Nikki Clark, from Bridgwater, said: “Hinkley C is now openly described as a white elephant by the financial sector and even the nuclear industry itself”.
Mr Cameron has told China Central Television that British-Chinese relations were enjoying a “golden era”.
Asked if the PM regarded China as a corrupt country, Mr Cameron’s spokeswoman said: “There are a range of different challenges for different countries in terms of tackling corruption”. Does the Prime Minister think it is important to take steps to tackle corruption around the world?
“I don’t know if they know something we don’t about the Chequers kitchens”.
The fall in the global steel price which has resulted in job losses in Scotland and the north-east of England was “likely” to come up in the course of discussions about the global economy and the challenges of globalisation, the spokeswoman said.
However, the visit, at which Mr Xi and his wife will attend a state banquet at Buckingham Palace has been mired by controversy over the country’s human rights record.
“He is not here for a debate about human rights”.
The PM was rewarded with a visit to China in December 2013, when he was granted audiences with Mr Xi and premier Le Keqiang and promised Chinese businesses they could expect a “warm welcome” if they invested in the UK.
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“China executes more people than the rest of the world put together, jails people who peacefully call for democratic reform and also muzzles the work of journalists”.
