British PM welcomes Chinese investment

Britain’s Gordon Brown launched his maiden visit to China as Prime Minister yesterday, welcoming Chinese investment and outlining an ambitious target to boost bilateral trade by 50 percent by 2010.

Heading straight for talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brown also discussed sensitive issues such as Sudan and Myanmar, nations that both have close ties to China.

“I want Britain to be the first location for Chinese investment, in Europe and in the rest of the world,” Brown told a joint press conference after the two met in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Brown said he had invited China’s new sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, or CIC, to set up an office in London.

The CIC, established in September last year, is charged with investing 200 billion dollars of China’s 1.5-trillion-dollar foreign exchange reserve, setting off some concerns abroad about China’s growing financial clout.

“I recognise in some countries it’s controversial but having talked to Premier Wen... I think it’s true that Britain will welcome the substantial investment from the Chinese in the years to come,” Brown said.

Wen outlined the operations of the CIC, pointing out that only part of its 200 billion dollars would be invested abroad, as one third had been spent on reforming domestic banks.

“We will endeavour to enable the funds overseas to be transparent and open. That is to say, foreign people in other countries as well as domestic media will have much insight into them,” Wen said.

Brown and Wen oversaw signing ceremonies for eight agreements covering areas such as education, a sustainable cities project, climate change and agreements with British Petroleum involving the development of clean energy technology.

Both Wen and Brown said they had set a target to raise two-way trade between China and Britain to 60 billion dollars by 2010, roughly 50 percent higher than the present level.

Brown described the relationship as “a dynamic, comprehensive and strategic partnership for the future.”

He said he hoped that by 2010, 100 new Chinese companies would have invested in Britain, and that the two countries would have 100 partnerships in higher education.

Brown’s two-day trip is the first by a European leader this year to China and has been billed by officials in both London and Beijing as of vital importance to strengthening ties between the two countries.

In a sign of the weight being given to the visit, some 25 leading figures from the banking, financial services, pharmaceuticals, insurance, high-tech and energy sectors were accompanying Brown.

He was due to meet President Hu Jintao later Friday, with the day set to be dominated by meetings with business leaders and senior government officials.

Wen and Brown also discussed Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur and the junta-ruled Myanmar, both areas of diplomacy where China has previously been seen as dragging its feet.

“Both countries hope that the north and south of Sudan will fully implement the comprehensive peace agreement,” Wen told reporters.

China is one of the biggest sellers of arms to Sudan, buying oil in return, and has been criticised for not exacting more pressure on Khartoum to stop violence.

On Myanmar, the two leaders said they had agreed that United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari should return there “as soon as possible” to help with reform and reconciliation efforts.

Beijing, Friday, AFP