British Prime Minister David Cameron also praised the president’s visit to Britain and said that this would be a new start to the golden era of China-Britain relations, with the countries’ initiative to build a global partnership to tackle the severe challenges of the 21st century.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses dignitaries during a visit to the airport city in Manchester, Britain, October 23, 2015.
“Our relationship goes beyond trade and investment”, said Cameron, whose country has pledged to become China’s best friend in the West.
The Chinese president on Wednesday morning visited Imperial College London with George Osborne, the chancellor, and then met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to see British and Chinese technology at a UK Trade & Investment event at Lancaster House.
Mr Xi and Mr Cameron will have lunch at Manchester Town Hall with 200 businessmen and women.
Xi’s state visit, the first by a Chinese president in a decade, is bearing rich fruit as a series of agreements have been reached covering many big projects.
There will be a new China office complex at Manchester’s £800m Airport City, which is part-owned and partly-constructed by a Beijing firm. In the first major Chinese investment in a Western nuclear facility, China’s General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) will take a one-third stake in the planned 18 billion-pound ($28 billion) Hinkley Point nuclear plant controlled by France’s EDF.
Xi is reportedly a fan of Manchester United, who host their local rivals Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.
Both Xi and Cameron watched Manuel Pellegrini, the City manager, conduct training before meeting several other members of the club, notably chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and head of the Elite Development Patrick Vieira.
Hailing Britain as a football power and the headstream of modern football, Xi said China should learn from Britain in many aspects.
Addressing them directly, the cyclist, who was dressed in a suit and tie, says: “You’ve come here to express your right to freedom of speech, do you think that’s a right that should be extended to everyone, in Tibet, in Beijing?” The Ministry of Education has taken the lead in organizing the games based on a national strategy for school soccer.
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“And we’ve also now got a relationship where we can discuss hard issues – whether it is the future of the steel industry, cyber security or indeed human rights – with the Chinese because we are having that dialogue”.
