By Bochen Han
“Money. Money. Money… Where is morality?”
For the first time in ten years, a Chinese president will set foot in the U.K. on an official visit. The expectations are high for this trip, with officials on both sides anticipating the arrival of a “golden era” of bilateral relations. In a rare interview with Reuters on the eve of his departure, Chinese President Xi Jinping commended Britain’s strategic choice to become “the Western country that is most open to China.”
The opportunities that China, with an enlarging middle class and an increasing propensity for foreign investment, can offer are widely recognized within the British government. During his tour of China in September, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled plans to make China the U.K.’s second largest trading partner by 2025. Britain is sparing no expense in making the trip as full of “pomp and circumstance” as it can get. While Xi was snubbed of the opportunity to address Congress in his visit to the U.S. last month, he was offered the chance to address the British parliament — and will do so on Tuesday, alongside similarly prestigious tasks like dining with the Queen.
China, too, is excited about the U.K. Having selected London as the first international financial hub to issue renminbi-denominated Chinese sovereign debt, Xi will publicly announce the issuing of Chinese Treasury bonds while in the city this week. In addition, approximately 150 bilateral deals are expected to be concluded this week in areas like aircraft manufacturing, healthcare, and energy, the most salient being one on China’s construction of a new nuclear power plant in Essex.
What Xi will not want to address, to the disappointment of many, is human rights. British officials note that while “robust” backstage discussions will take place there will be no room for megaphone diplomacy. In an echo to that, China’s Ambassador to the U.K. Liu Xiaoming emphasized that the visit was “for cooperation, for partnership…[and] not for a debate about human rights.” While he did acknowledge that China “does not shy away from discussions about human rights,” he cautioned that Xi would be offended if confronted with public criticism over the issue.
Read the full story at The Diplomat