British premier Cameron flies to Beijing, says will push EU-China trade deal

Beijing: British Prime Minister David Cameron flew into China saying he wanted to lay the ground for a multi-billion-dollar free trade deal between Beijing and the European Union, despite growing unease about his own country's membership of the bloc.

On a three-day visit with a delegation of around 100 business people, the largest British mission of its kind ever, Cameron said he wanted his country to play an important role in China's expansion as the world's second biggest economy is talking about opening up its markets.

"China's transformation is one of the defining facts of our lifetime," Cameron wrote in Caixin, a Chinese weekly news magazine, on the eve of the visit.

"There is a genuine choice for every country over how to respond. They can choose to see China's rise as a threat or an opportunity. Britain's answer is clear. We want to see China succeed."

Cameron's push for an EU-China trade deal will irritate the European Commission, which is understood to be strongly opposed to such a move on the grounds that it risks flooding the bloc with cheap Chinese imports.

It is also likely to be seized upon by political opponents as he has put a question mark over Britain's continued membership of the 28-nation EU by promising Britons an in/out referendum on leaving the bloc if re-elected in 2015.

A British government analysis has shown that eliminating tariffs between China and the EU in the 20 sectors where they were highest would save British exporters around a billion pounds annually, officials said.

"I now want to set a new long-term goal of an ambitious and comprehensive EU-China Free Trade Agreement," Cameron wrote.

"And as I have on the EU-US deal, so I will put my full political weight behind such a deal which could be worth tens of billions of dollars every year."

Cameron is expected to raise the subject in a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday. His office said he was the first European leader to champion such a deal in this way.
He had already discussed the idea of an EU-China trade deal with other EU member states, it added. Such a deal would address services liberalisation and better intellectual property rights protection.

Human rights

British finance minister George Osborne opened the door to further Chinese investment in Britain during a visit to Beijing last month. He announced less stringent rules for Chinese banks operating in London, in a push to make the British capital the main offshore hub for trading in China's currency and bonds.

He also paved the way for Chinese investors to take majority stakes in future British nuclear plants.

Campaigners have often accused Cameron of putting trade before human rights. On this trip, activists want him to raise what they say are rights abuses in Tibet.

A senior source in his office said before the trip that Britain had turned the page on a rift with China over Tibet, adding that Cameron had no plans to meet the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader-in-exile, again after their meeting last year angered Beijing.

Cameron will visit a training academy for Jaguar Land Rover sales staff in Beijing on Monday to mark its official opening as the carmaker unveils a deal worth 4.5 billion pounds to provide 100,000 cars to the National Sales Company in China.

England's Premier League is also expected to announce an agreement with the Chinese Super League to further develop football in China and boost the Premier League's profile.

Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, is travelling with Cameron.
The business delegation also includes Andrew Witty, the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline.

The company was drawn into a bribery case in China earlier this year which resulted in police detaining four Chinese GSK executives.

Peter Humphrey, a British man running a risk advisory group, was also detained and is still being held.