Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang was to meet Prime Minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday. His visit to Britain was designed to promote economic ties and improve diplomatic relations.
The Chinese leader, who arrived on Monday, is accompanied by around 200 business leaders. According to British reports, deals worth around 18 billion pounds (31 billion dollars) are to be signed.
The visit is the first by a Chinese premier to Britain after that of Li’s predecessor Wen Jiabao three years ago.
Relations cooled between the two countries after Prime Minister David Cameron met with exiled Tibetan spritual leader the Dalai Lama in 2012.
However, in an attempt to smooth things over and woo potentially lucrative Chinese markets, the British leader visited China in December.
When asked whether Mr. Cameron would raise human rights issues during his talks with Mr. Li, the Chinese Premier’s spokesman said: “All issues are on the table in these discussions and there will be no exception this time.” “In terms of discussions around human rights with the Chinese authorities, we had the latest round of the UK-China dialogue on these issues in May,” he added.
To coincide with the visit and in a move designed to attract more Chinese tourists, Home Secretary Theresa May announced a relaxation of visa rules for Chinese visitors on Monday.
Beijing has complained that British restrictions have made it difficult for Chinese to visit Britain, making other European economies such as France and Germany, part of the 26-nation, border-free Schengen area, more attractive.
But Ms. May said Britain issued 290,000 visitor visas to Chinese nationals last year, an increase of nearly 40 per cent on 2012, and said she wanted to see that number climb further.
The launch of negotiations on ending a 30-year Chinese ban on British beef and lamb imports, imposed after the 1980s BSE outbreak, were also thought to be on the leaders agenda.
The Financial Times reported that among the other deals set to be announced BP would sign a contract worth more than 5 billion pounds to supply China with liquefied natural gas. Royal Dutch Shell would also announce a “global alliance” with Chinese state energy giant Cnooc, the paper reported.
Mr. Li himself wrote in a piece for the Times newspaper on Monday that the purpose of his visit was three-fold.
It was meant to “spur the growth of our respective economies,” “change misperceptions and ease misgivings” about China in Britain, and “draw on British perspectives and experience,” he said.
Britain was “an important partner of China,” he wrote, adding that the two countries had “many areas for collaboration.” After this visit Mr. Li is to travel on to Greece.
