David Cameron, China’s Amazon and Tibet

Just been watching David Cameron usher China’s Jack Ma (the man who set up China’s equivalent of Amazon, turnover $150bn a year or thereabouts) down a short row of British business people. Each of them handed over their business card.

Each of them wants to sell their goods on his portal to get a foothold in the Chinese business market. David Cameron is unabashed about this stuff, believes it’s the best way to compete in a tight market with other hungry economies. Jack Ma took a “selfie” of himself with the PM.

What would Palmerston have thought? Palmerston, by the way a predecessor who Mr Cameron has in the past expressed admiration for, but not someone with a big following in China.

Yesterday, David Cameron insisted that there’s no contradiction or tension between getting in on China’s economic growth act and being tough on human rights issues. But you do wonder.

He boasted of the human rights dialogue, which he said was being revived, and I talked about that yesterday. And here’s what Mr Cameron said to Chinese TV in an interview this morning when asked about the recent spat and period of poor relations triggered by his meeting with the Dalai Lama: “Issues in the past I think we’ve come to an understanding over.”

By the way, here’s how the local newspaper in Shanghai reported David Cameron’s Beijing visit yesterday – the prime minister coming out against Tibetan independence.