British PM in China to seal trade deals, rights on agenda
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
BEIJING, Nov 9 (AFP): British Prime Minister David Cameron met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao Tuesday with both sides eager to seal lucrative trade deals-and Cameron insisting human rights would be discussed.
Cameron-plus 43 bosses from major British companies and four ministers in Britain's largest-ever delegation to China-says he wants to take his country's ties with the world's second-biggest economy "to a new level".
The British premier, on his first official visit to China, was greeted by Wen at a formal welcoming ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing. The two then launched their talks.
Cameron said in a column for the Wall Street Journal that he expected to see "new contracts worth billions of dollars" signed during his two days in Beijing, which come ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Seoul starting Thursday.
His longer-term target is to double the level of trade in goods and services between Britain and China by 2015, from last year's 51.8 billion dollars.
But Cameron's efforts to build business ties with Beijing could be eclipsed by increasing calls for him to issue a stern rebuke to Wen and President Hu Jintao on their human rights record.
Cameron is the first Western leader to visit China since jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 8 -- an honour hailed in the West but decried by Beijing as tantamount to "encouraging crime".
Liu, 54, was jailed in December for 11 years on subversion charges after co- authoring Charter 08, a bold petition calling for democratic reform in one- party China that has been widely circulated online and signed by thousands.
When asked if he would press China's Communist leaders on rights issues, Cameron said such questions were part of London's wide-ranging dialogue with Beijing.
Cameron-plus 43 bosses from major British companies and four ministers in Britain's largest-ever delegation to China-says he wants to take his country's ties with the world's second-biggest economy "to a new level".
The British premier, on his first official visit to China, was greeted by Wen at a formal welcoming ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing. The two then launched their talks.
Cameron said in a column for the Wall Street Journal that he expected to see "new contracts worth billions of dollars" signed during his two days in Beijing, which come ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Seoul starting Thursday.
His longer-term target is to double the level of trade in goods and services between Britain and China by 2015, from last year's 51.8 billion dollars.
But Cameron's efforts to build business ties with Beijing could be eclipsed by increasing calls for him to issue a stern rebuke to Wen and President Hu Jintao on their human rights record.
Cameron is the first Western leader to visit China since jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 8 -- an honour hailed in the West but decried by Beijing as tantamount to "encouraging crime".
Liu, 54, was jailed in December for 11 years on subversion charges after co- authoring Charter 08, a bold petition calling for democratic reform in one- party China that has been widely circulated online and signed by thousands.
When asked if he would press China's Communist leaders on rights issues, Cameron said such questions were part of London's wide-ranging dialogue with Beijing.