Sino-UK trade to top PM visit
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Boosting bilateral trade is set to top David Cameron's agenda during the British Prime Minister's first China visit this month since taking office in May.
Analysts, officials, and business leaders in the UK also said the two countries can move beyond a business-to-business partnership by having more cooperation in areas like healthcare and legal issues.
Cameron's two-day visit will start on Nov 9 before he heads to Seoul for the G20.
During his stay, Cameron will meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. The size of Cameron's team was described as the "biggest ever" in the UK leaders' China visit.
He will be accompanied by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Huhne and Education Minister Michael Gove, as well as more than 50 leaders in the business and commerce industry, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news conference on Tuesday.
"The visit is significant to the long-term development of Sino-UK relations," Hong said.
"China and the UK enjoy a healthy relationship now, and since the new government took place in May this year, the two countries have had frequent high-level exchanges and cooperation has been smooth," Hong said.
Britain is aware that China is an "ever-greater presence in the UK", noted Rana Mitter, a professor of University of Oxford China Center.
Mitter said the two countries "need each other" in an interdependent world.
"China needs economic growth, not just at home but also in the UK and the rest of the world - after all, it needs a market to export its goods."
China is the UK's second-biggest trade partner after the EU, while London is Beijing's third-biggest trade partner in the 27-nation bloc. Total trade volume, reached $39.1 billion in 2009.
It had already reached $26.6 billion in the first seven months of 2010 - up 32.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK.
