UK rolls out red carpet for China’s Xi in contentious visit
LONDON (AP) — China’s leader quoted Chinese proverbs and William Shakespeare while Britain’s prime minister hailed a “golden age” between the two nations as a state visit festooned with regal pomp and pageantry was shadowed by concerns about national security, human rights and economic rivalry.
President Xi Jinping’s trip, years in the making, aimed to cement deals giving Britain a vast new pool of investment and China greater access to European markets. But as Xi was welcomed Tuesday as an honored guest at Buckingham Palace, critics warned that Britain was taking a risk by courting Beijing so aggressively.
”If you act like a panting puppy, the object of your attention is going to think they have got you on a leash,” James McGregor, a China expert at consulting firm APCO, told the
Some British politicians, businessmen and union members are alarmed by growing Chinese investment in key sectors of the British economy, including nuclear power, and by Chinese competition in areas such as steel production.
Hundreds of UK steel layoffs were announced Tuesday, the first full day of Xi’s four-day visit, in a crisis that manufacturers blame on China selling steel at a loss on world markets to secure its own market share.
Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to confront Xi about the steel industry and human rights, but China’s leader was welcomed to London with lavish tradition and military pomp — a genre at which both Britain and China excel.
Xi was greeted with a 41-gun artillery salute before being driven to Buckingham Palace, where he and his wife Peng Liyuan will stay, in a gilded carriage drawn by white horses.