China to bolster ties with UK

UK: Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang arrived in London Monday to meet Prime Minister David Cameron on the second day of a visit to Britain aimed at bolstering economic ties between the two countries.

The British Government is rolling out the red carpet for Li, who is widely tipped to become Chinese Premier next year, as Britain scrambles to catch up with European rivals Germany and France in landing business deals with China.

Li was also to hold talks with Finance Minister George Osborne and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg Monday and will make a speech at a banquet Tuesday.

He will meet royalty too, with talks with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, planned for Tuesday.

Having already visited Spain and Germany on his European visit accompanied by a 150-strong business and political delegation Li started his trip to Britain in Scotland, where he sealed a 10-million-dollar (7.7-million-euro) renewable energy deal between Scottish and Chinese companies on Sunday.

In an article in the Financial Times on Monday, Li said the world should not fear a rapidly growing China.

“China’s development benefits other countries,” he wrote. “We welcome the entry into our market of competitive goods and services from around the world, and will provide a fair and even more transparent environment for foreign investors.”

Li added that “reform and opening-up are the driving forces behind our development”, but warned that “China’s development will not be possible without the world — and world development needs China”.

The visit follows Cameron’s trip to China in November, when he was the first Western leader to visit the country since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

While he did not publicly confront Chinese leaders over human rights, Cameron used a speech to university students to call for “greater political opening” as the Chinese economy surges forward.

Deputy premier Clegg has insisted that “no subject will be off limits” during the talks with Li in the four-day British visit.

In trade terms, Cameron’s visit to Beijing produced deals for British companies worth around one billion pounds (1.5 billion dollars, 1.2 billion euros).

In contrast, a few days earlier a visit to France by Chinese President Hu Jintao yielded 20 billion dollars of aviation and energy contracts between Chinese and French companies.

Cameron has said Li’s visit would “build on the momentum” from his trip to Beijing, adding that “stronger relations with China offered a real opportunity for Britain in terms of trade, jobs, and economic growth”.

Li’s trips to Germany and Spain have focused on business.

In Berlin, he said China and Germany, the world’s top two exporters, should deepen their economic cooperation both in traditional areas such as machinery and cars but also in low-carbon technologies and energy efficient industry.

While in Madrid, Li said Beijing was willing to buy around six billion euros worth of Spanish debt, daily El Pais quoted government sources as saying.

London, Tuesday, AFP