Posted on Thursday, October 22, 2015 by Lynda Huff
At a UK-China business summit as part of the Chinese president's state visit, Mr Cameron and President Xi witnessed the signing of a number of investment agreements, including a deal between EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) for a nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, Somerset.
China praised the British royal family on Wednesday for its treatment of President Xi Jinping in London and rejected suggestions Prince Charles had been rude by skipping a state banquet for the Chinese leader the day before.
"We are planning for a final investment decision within weeks so that we can move forward with construction", Jean Bernard Levy, head of EDF, said of Hinkley Point, which will be the UK's first new nuclear plant since 1995 and the European Union's first since Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011. It is speculated the Chinese will own one third of the plant, which is expected to cost £24 billion to build.
The prospect of China, which Western spymasters say sponsors hacking of global companies, helping to build a nuclear plant in Britain and being involved in running others has stoked security concerns in Britain.
The PM said the two countries could maintain a "strong relationship" while having "necessary and frank discussions" about issues like the steel industry and human rights. Mr Xi also expressed his "heartfelt gratitude" for the warm welcome he has received.
"We're signing an historic deal to build the Hinkley nuclear power station", Cameron said at a joint press conference with Xi at Downing Street. Opposition politicians are urging Cameron to raise China's human rights record in his several meetings with Xi this week.
Looking around the world, "there is always room for improvement" on human rights, he said.
Mr Xi will address both Houses of Parliament today and the t he Prime Minister has also invited the president to his official Chequers country retreat later in the visit as the United Kingdom pulls out all the stops to court the leader of the world's second-largest economy.
Leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, 19, who attended a protest against Xi near Buckingham Palace, told AFP that the prospect of Chinese cash "has blinded the eyes of David Cameron". Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Britain Monday for a four-day state visit as part of a push to increase trade ties between the two countries.
Prime Minister David Cameron was also on hand to welcome the visitors.
In many respects, Osborne is only seeking to strengthen an already fairly dense set of UK-China economic ties.
But Xi insisted that China was not exclusively to blame for the crisis and said Chinese jobs were also at stake.
Richard Dickinson, chairman of the UK-China Visa Alliance, said: "Prioritising longer lasting visas is a significant step forward in the campaign to encourage more Chinese visitors to the UK".
Xi rode to the palace in a gilded carriage past thousands of supporters with Chinese flags, and around 200 protesters who booed and waved placards attacking China's human rights record.
He responds: "I think he's saying that everybody has to have aspiration and ambition, they need their own personal dream about how they can improve themselves and the world around them".
http://theweatherspace.com/2015/10/22/163858-uks-treatment-of-chinese-president-is-a-national/
