LONDON (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao is due to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday on the second day of a state visit to Britain after delivering the message that China wants a “world of lasting peace”.
Hu arrived in London on Tuesday with global warming, trade talks and economic relations high on the agenda.
At a banquet in his honour at Buckingham Palace on Monday evening, Hu said Chinese development would offer opportunities for Britain and other countries.
“We are working hard to build … a moderately prosperous society, featuring a more developed economy, improved democracy … and higher living standards for the entire 1.3 billion people,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
“We stand ready to work with the UK to strengthen mutual trust, expand exchanges and co-operation and make joint efforts for the wellbeing of the two peoples and a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity.”
The Queen said the whole world had an interest in how China developed, adding the country’s rapid economic growth in recent years had caught the world’s attention and admiration.
“It matters to all of us what kind of country China’s people will build, what role they will play in the world of the 21st century and how this will be perceived by others,” she said.
Earlier, the Chinese president had faced jeering rights protesters and Tibetan activists.
About 200 demonstrators carrying “Free Tibet” banners and brandishing the yellow, red and blue national flag that is outlawed in Tibet shouted as Hu and the Queen rode to the palace in a horse-drawn carriage.
When Hu’s predecessor Jiang Zemin visited Britain in 1999, police angered rights activists by breaking up demonstrations over Tibet and seizing the flags.
At their talks on Wednesday, Blair is likely to discuss Beijing’s attitude to climate change with the hope of encouraging it to develop less-polluting ways to burn coal and to pursue alternative power sources.
He also wants to encourage China to take a lead among developing countries ahead of a United Nations climate change conference in December in Montreal, officials said.
Trade, China’s human rights record and its growing influence in tackling issues such as the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea will also be on the agenda.
Britain is Hu’s first stop on a trip that will take him to Germany, Spain and South Korea.
