We should deal with China, not kowtow

as the red carpets are rolled out and the carriages clatter down the Mall, this paper is deeply uneasy over the fawning welcome accorded to china’s Xi Jinping, president of one of the world’s cruellest and most corrupt dictatorships.

nobody understands better than the Mail that in this imperfect world, governments with an eye to their national interests often have to deal with thoroughly unpleasant regimes.

nor has anyone argued more strongly that Britain should seize trading opportunities wherever they can be found – particularly since our partners in the eurozone seem doomed to stagnation for a long while yet.

But is Britain really so desperate for what china can offer that we have to kowtow to its leaders’ every wish, offering ludicrously favourable terms to its statecontrolled businesses while often suffering shoddy treatment in return?

take our new generation of nuclear power stations, starting with Hinkley Point in somerset, for which George osborne has offered £2billion of government support – and guaranteed sky-high prices for the electricity it produces – in the hope of securing a deal with china.

How can it be wise to offer a regime like this, with its history of cyber theft, espionage and military expansionism, what amounts to a stranglehold over our economic and national security?

Meanwhile, look at how china treats us – locking up British executives, gagging journalists who question the regime’s economic competence and helping to destroy our steelmaking industry by flooding the market with its discounted products.

can’t ministers see that the chinese need us, with our financial and technical expertise, as much as we need them?

Message to Mr osborne. there’s more to negotiating with dictatorships than asking: ‘How much more deeply would you like us to bow?’