“This is the way I operate”, May earlier told reporters en route to the summit, which will include a one-to-one with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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HANGZHOU, China (AP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday that she intends to seize new trading opportunities for a Britain that has voted to leave the European Union, reiterating that “Brexit does indeed mean Brexit” and there will be “no attempt to get out of this”.
Mrs May added: “We are both strong supporters of free trade and today we have discussed how to take forward consultations to ensure that the United Kingdom and U.S. have the strongest possible trading relationship”. I’m not going to be taking the Hinkley decision – it’s not going to be taken now, it’s going to be taken later this month, but it will be taken this month.
“I’m not sure that when you look around the world at all the UK’s partners that we are defined exclusively by one energy project”, the official said.
A decision is expected in the autumn amid speculation that Mrs May is concerned about the involvement of Chinese state-owned CGN in the project and any further agreement for China to build reactors in Bradwell, Essex.
Mrs May called the USA a “special partner” for the United Kingdom, a “long-standing ally and close friend”.
The Prime Minister said it would not be “plain sailing” even though economic data has not been as bad as was feared before the European Union referendum in June.
Speaking at Heathrow before boarding a Royal Air Force plane to Hangzhou, she said: “This is a golden era for UK-China relations and one of the things I will be doing at the G20 is obviously talking to President Xi about about how we can develop the strategic partnership that we have between the UK and China”.
During the summit, Mrs May will also hold her first face-to-face talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and is expected to adopt an approach of “hard-headed engagement” especially on the issue of Russian bombings in Aleppo, Syria.
Mrs May will also have a meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, with the trading relationship expected to dominate the agenda.
The Prime Minister will warn all members of the G20 that Islamic State groups who are being forced out of strongholds in Libya, are looking to find new safe havens in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa.
“British people voted to ensure the freedom of movement doesn’t carry on as it has done in the past, and we also want to ensure we get the best deal for trade in goods and services”. Clearly Hinkley does have security implications. “I think we will see a very clear slapdown from president Xi and an end of the golden era that was supposed to start a year ago”. So I don’t think that’s the issue.
She said new rules needed to be put in place so China did not feel discriminated against.
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“That’s exactly the process I’m going through”.
