Blair, Hu to Discuss Trade on Chinese Leader’s Trip (Update1)
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) — U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to discuss trade and security with President Hu Jintao as the Chinese leader begins a three-nation European visit.
“We will discuss the economic relations between our two countries,” Blair said at his monthly press conference in London yesterday. “We’ll discuss the current security situation.”
Hu, who arrives in London today for the first state visit by a Chinese leader since 1999, also will travel to Germany and Spain later this week, then meet with U.S. President George W. Bush in Beijing on Nov. 19.
Blair is attempting to balance his desire to win contracts for U.K. companies in China against human-rights concerns dating to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators. He’s also seeking China’s support in defusing a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
British companies led by Rolls-Royce Plc, BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Group Plc and Tesco Plc have pledged investments worth $10.4 billion in China, according to the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Blair wants to boost exports from the U.K. to China after imports from the nation rose 23 percent last year to 10.6 billion pounds.
“Britain is aiming to steer Europe into a much more rounded view of China instead of just focusing on trade issues,” said Adam Ward, an Asia analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based consultant. “China is now an actor on the international security stage, and there’s a realization that trade, security and human rights are linked.”
Dissidents
Lobby groups led by Amnesty International and Free Tibet along with Britain’s main opposition parties today will call for China to offer greater political freedom and curtail violence against dissidents in the one-party state.
China has been lobbying the European Union to lift its ban on weapons sales to China. U.K. Ambassador to China Christopher Hum said on Sept. 2 that China must set a timetable to sign the international covenant on human rights before the EU will lift the sales ban.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Sept. 6 that a 16-year-old ban on arms sales to China, put in place after China’s military cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing in 1989, will be lifted, though he didn’t give a timetable for the policy change.
Opposition Leaders
Hu, who is staying with Queen Elizabeth II, will meet with Conservative leader Michael Howard and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy before a banquet at Buckingham Palace.
“Certain issues like human rights we will be raising firmly but respectfully,” said Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, Britain’s No. 3 political party. “It will be a polite but clear indication on human rights.”
China also will sign a series of “cooperative agreements” with the government to expand relations with Britain, foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing on Oct. 25. He didn’t give details.
China’s economy grew 9.5 percent in each of the past two years, the fastest since 1996, and probably will grow 9.3 percent this year, according to the World Bank. Amnesty International said quick growth masks incidents of violence against political dissidents in China.
“The economic progress of China must not blind the U.K. to the denial of people’s basic rights,” said Stephen Bowen, a spokesman for Amnesty International in London. “China still restricts freedom of expression and still executes more people than the rest of the world put together.”
Iran
Blair and Hu also have a common interest in curtailing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In August, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad resumed work to enrich uranium, a process that could help the nation acquire a nuclear bomb.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog based in Vienna, in September condemned Iran’s decision and will meet on Nov. 24 to decide whether to refer the matter to the Security Council.
While the U.S. and Britain are moving toward recommending a referral, which would put Iran in line for diplomatic or trade sanctions, China has said the matter should remain with the IAEA.
“China doesn’t want to see a nuclear-capable Iran,” said Ward, the IISS expert. “The Chinese are concerned a UN referral could set in train a process like the one that led to the war in Iraq.”
