Summary
27 June 2011
The UK-China summit gets underway today in London with the prime minister, David Cameron hosting his Chinese counterpart Premier Wen Jiabao and a delegation of Chinese ministers.
Reporter:
Jonathan Marcus
British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
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Report
The British Government sees this summit as an opportunity to cement UK-China relations as "Partners for Growth." The target is one hundred billion dollars worth of bilateral trade by 2015.
The deals to be announced will go some small way towards narrowing the trade gap with China. British exports have increased by 20% since the British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Beijing last November.
It is hoped there will be agreement to enable British business to branch out beyond Beijing and Shanghai into fast-growing regional cities.
There are also plans to establish a new dialogue on a broad range of cultural matters.
However concerns about human rights in China will inevitably come up too; Britain stressing that respect for human rights under the rule of law is an essential pre-requisite for China's long-term prosperity and stability.
But China's economic strength and its growing diplomatic weight leave no option for middle-ranking countries like Britain but engagement. The hope is that over time this will change the Beijing government's behaviour at home.
Jonathan Marcus, 大象传媒 Defence and Diplomatic correspondent
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Vocabulary
- to cement
to make a relationship stronger
- bilateral trade
exchange of goods or services between two countries
- trade gap
the difference between the value of a country's imports and the value of its exports
- to branch out
to go to other areas
- dialogue
a formal discussion between the two countries
- a broad range
a wide variety
- inevitably
is certain to happen, without doubt
- pre-requisite
a condition that must exist before something else can be done
- prosperity
financial success
- growing diplomatic weight
increasing importance and power in world politics
