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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will find many opportunities for greater bilateral ties, deriving mainly from China's development, when he arrives in Beijing on Friday.
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown talks with members of the British Chinese community at a reception in 10 Downing Street, ahead of his visit to China, in London, on Monday. AP |
The three-day visit will be Brown's maiden trip to China since taking office as prime minister last June and underscores growing economic ties and mutual strategic trust between the two countries.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said yesterday that China attaches great importance to the visit and believes it will inject new vitality to the development of a strategic Sino-British partnership.
Brown is scheduled to meet with the Chinese leadership, including talks with Premier Wen Jiabao, during his stay in the capital.
The two prime ministers will hold a joint press conference, meet business leaders and hold talks with representatives of the general public.
The British guest is also scheduled to visit Olympic sites before moving to Shanghai, the economic hub in eastern China.
According to Jiang, fruitful cooperation in financial services, education, health, the environment and Olympic-related projects are likely to push the volume of bilateral trade to more than $40 billion this year.
The spokeswoman said the enhancement of relations between the two countries, which are both permanent members of the UN Security Council, not only conforms to the interest of the two peoples but is also conducive to world peace, stability and prosperity.
Recent years have witnessed growing momentum in bilateral ties with frequent high-level exchanges.
Since becoming prime minister, Brown has had several phone conversations with his Chinese counterpart and the two sides have sent each other letters to keep close contact and coordination on major bilateral and international issues.
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visited London last month as the two countries held their second round of strategic dialogue in Beijing last year.
Business opportunities
Fu Ying, Chinese ambassador to the UK, said business relations will top the agenda of Brown's visit and that she was looking forward to hearing the leaders' views and ideas on how to advance bilateral trade and economic ties.
Fu made the remarks at a cocktail reception in London last week, noting that lots of business opportunities were awaiting for the UK in China.
She said the sale of Olympic-related commodities was expected to exceed $1 billion this year and business opportunities were estimated to top $400 billion from 2004 to this year and the British skill and management would certainly be welcomed.
"China is less concerned with slowing down after the Olympics. Because it is believed that it will stimulate domestic consumption that is likely to sustain. And there is interest in China for the UK to find post Beijing Olympic cooperation, especially in the field of construction," she said.
The Chinese ambassador also said bright prospects existed for the two countries to expand service trade and financial cooperation.
In an interview with China Daily last year, Fu noted that as an international financial center, London enjoyed strong advantages in terms of finance and fund management. More and more Chinese companies are moving to invest and list in the UK and she believes that the momentum will continue. Reports quoted diplomatic sources as saying China would welcome British capital and expertise to help it restructure its service sector and that there was potential during Brown's visit to expand technical cooperation on clean energy projects.
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