UK rolls out red carpet for China’s Xi on contentious visit

CHINESE President Xi Jinping was to address Britain’s Parliament and dine with Queen Elizabeth II yesterday as he began a state visit to cement the close economic ties between the two countries — a trip that risks being overshadowed by concerns about the effects of Chinese competition on the British economy, AP reports.

Britain splashed out a welcome full of tradition and pomp for the Chinese leader’s four-day visit, driving Xi the half mile (1 kilometer) to Buckingham Palace, where he and his wife will stay, in a gilded carriage drawn by white horses.

Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were greeted by the queen, her husband Prince Philip and dignitaries including Prime Minister David Cameron at Horse Guards parade ground near Buckingham Palace.

The Chinese leader was welcomed with a 41-gun artillery salute before inspecting ranks of Grenadier Guards, who were decked out in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats.

Thousands of people lined the route along the Mall to see Xi go by, and demonstrators from human rights and pro-Tibet groups jostled with a much larger group of Xi well-wishers, whose chants of “China! China!” drowned out their rivals.

Britain’s Conservative-led government has been courting China, the world’s second-largest economy, for years. When Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, paid a state visit to Britain in 2005, the countries announced $1.3 billion in trade deals. This time, Britain said the nations would sign 30 billion pounds ($46 billion) in business agreements.

Cameron has said the visit heralds a “golden era” between the two countries — a charm offensive welcomed by many.

Talon Li, a Chinese finance student at Greenwich University, stood with classmates along the Mall to welcome Xi and support closer ties between the two countries.

“It’s great,” he said. “U.K. and China will really help each other. They should stay friends — every British and Chinese person can be friends.”

But some British politicians, businesspeople and union members are alarmed by growing Chinese investment in key sectors of the British economy, and by Chinese competition in areas such as steel production.