Osborne in China: UK to relax visa rules for Chinese
The chancellor is hoping to “change British attitudes” to China and is calling for more respect to be shown to the way the country is developing.
George Osborne believes Britons need to stop viewing Chinese industry as a “sweatshop” and accept the country is a world leader in technology industries.
The chancellor also told students in Beijing that there is no limit on the number of Chinese people who can come to study or visit.
Amid concerns about human rights and corruption, Mr Osborne said China was “tackling its own problems” in the way it thinks is appropriate.
Nuclear deal
Mr Osborne is expected to sign a deal allowing a Chinese state-owned company to build nuclear power stations in the UK and their reactor design approved by British regulators. EDF plan to team up with the Chinese Nuclear Power Group for a £14billion project at Hinckley Point.
He told the BBC’s Today programme that the UK had a “very strict attitude towards corrupt business practices” but noted there is a “huge crackdown” in Beijing on corruption.
“Britain and China are two very old civilisations and China represents a fifth of the world’s population.
“Of course we can bring up issues that we have concerns about but we do also have to respect the fact it is a deep and ancient civilisation that is tackling its own problems and going about it in the way it thinks is appropriate.
One hundred and sixty million Chinese are watching Downton Abbey, which is more than double the number of people who live in the UK
George Osborne
“I think there is a bit of a British attitude which treats China as a sweatshop on the Pearl River. One of the things I’m trying to do this week in China is to change British attitudes to China… this is a country that is right at the forefront of medicine and high-tech and computing and high-tech engineering and all of that.
Mr Osborne said he wanted Chinese companies to use the UK as a base for their Western activities.
No limits
He announced a partnership between Peking University and Manchester University to create a joint centre for genomic medicine declaring they would “embrace the future together”.
“This partnership will – I hope – give even more of you the chance to come to Britain and study there. We already have 130,000 Chinese students like you studying in Britain. I want more of you to come. And more Chinese visitors too.”
Diplomatic relations between Beijing and Westminster were strained by David Cameron’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, but Mr Osborne has stressed that the Prime Minister was “not planning to meet the Dalai Lama” again.
Mr Osborne said: “What we want to see is Chinese tourists, just as a generation ago we had a whole wave of Japanese tourists, the new phenomenon in the world is Chinese tourism.
“We also want to see Chinese investment in our energy, in our finance and the like. We also want to see this increasingly prosperous Chinese nation buying engines from Rolls-Royce for their aeroplanes, British pharmaceuticals.”
He added; “One hundred and sixty million Chinese are watching Downton Abbey, which is more than double the number of people who live in the UK.”
Yin and yang
The mayor of London Boris Johnson is in China promoting trade with the capital, he will meet political leaders and business chiefs during his six-day trip and share a platform with George Osborne at Peking University.
George Osborne said he and Boris Johnson were like “the yin and the yang” on their separate visits.
Mr Johnson has called China’s economic growth staggering, adding that the country presents huge opportunities for London.