The ice in China-U.K. relations was officially broken in December 2013, when Cameron visited Beijing.
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With $16 trillion in assets, the Chinese SOEs do everything from building spacecraft to trading silk.
The Prince of Wales, who is a supporter of the Dalai Lama and who has had a hard relationship with China’s leadership in the past, will miss the state banquet on Tuesday evening. The British have entrusted an important role to China in boosting its economic stature.
China is ready to partner with Britain in the spirit of inclusiveness, opening up and seeking win-win progress through cooperation to upgrade and expand cooperation to deliver more benefits to our two peoples, he pledged. “In China we care more about rights to better life, to better job, to better housing”.
Mr Xi acknowledged that the Chinese economy’s slowing was a concern.
China’s economy expanded by an average annual rate of 8% from 2011 to 2014, before falling to 7% in the first half of this year.
“[The US] decided not to participate in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which I think was a bit churlish of them”, said Standard Chartered’s European chief executive Richard Holmes.
“China is a peace-loving country and the president will be here for a cooperation partnership”.
The state visit of the President of China Xi Jinping this week, and the accompanying worldwide media exposure and visibility, is a fantastic opportunity for us to inspire more global visitors from China to come and explore all the nations and regions of Britain.
Protests are expected throughout Xi’s visit, which is scheduled to end Friday.
One deal expected to be inked during Mr Xi’s visit is a plan for two state-owned Chinese utilities to invest in a £16bn nuclear power project being built by French utility EDF in southwest England.
Xi will pay a state visit to Britain from Monday to Friday, the first by a Chinese head of state in a decade.
On the financial front, there’s likely to be another major step forward.
A White House official said London’s decision to join the AIIB reflected a “trend toward constant accommodation of China”, the Financial Times reported in March.
“The Chinese are desperate to order fish and chips”, a source told the Sunday Times.
I’m still sceptical it will be built, so was heartened to hear the government also reaffirming its faith in a possible fleet of small reactors: cheaper, simpler and, perhaps best of all, designed in the UK.
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Vincent Connor, an expert at Pinsent Masons on China’s outbound investments, said: “There is a different leader in power in the United Kingdom that has been very willing to engage with China”. He cited their cooperation on “the Iranian, South Sudanese and other issues” as well as their coordination in fighting the Ebola epidemic as examples.
