David Cameron – East West Markets

China UK Political Relations

Even though it took place more than a year ago, the repercussions of the meeting between the Dalai Lama and David Cameron are still being felt. In 2012, the UK Prime Minister met with the Tibetan spiritual leader. In the last few years there has been progress with China UK relations, resulting in a deepened mutually beneficial cooperation.

During the meeting between David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the Dalai Lama, the bilateral ties between China UK were “strained.” Thereafter, the government of China called for a public apology and on the UK to “take concrete actions” to repair the two countries’ strained relationships.

Hugo Swire, British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) State Minister does not believe the UK has anything to apologize for vis-à-vis the PM’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. But clearly China does not feel the same. Indeed, so disappointed has the eastern superpower been at the UK’s behavior that a few months ago it forced Cameron to cancel his trip to China. It is now hoped that next month this trip will be rescheduled in an effort to promote China UK relations vis-à-vis Chinese investment in the UK’s infrastructure projects.

But these UK-China issues are not solely about what happened in 2012. According to Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, “there is a bit of a British attitude which treats China as a sort of sweat shop on the Pearl river. One of the things I am 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 hi-tech and computing and hi-tech engineering.” With this in mind he is thus taking a five-strong ministerial delegation to China in an effort to make way for an official visit by Cameron who’s not been there for three years.

Improving China UK Relations

After quite some time, China UK relations are on the upswing. It seems that Britain and Beijing are finally ending their cold war, possibly primarily due to the fact that the UK government is not prepared to witness an independent Tibet. Indeed, this move to enhance China UK relations was even commented on in The People’s Daily (Communist Party’s official newspaper) which wrote “Sino-UK relations have taken a step forward.”

In a move that is likely to further enhance China UK relations, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron is due to hold a summit with China’s Premier, Li Keqiang. This will bring to an end over a year of no contact at top government level. Having no contact during this time has panicked officials in the British government who feel England could lose out to other European regions like France and Germany that both boast strong political-economic connections with Beijing already. Foreign Secretary William Hague told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that this year had witnessed “unprecedented Chinese investment into the UK as well as strong growth in bilateral trade.”

It would be good if China UK relations were to receive some injection of good faith. Things weren’t always so poor. Indeed, around 10 years ago, Britain was the fourth-largest trading partner China had. Clearly China UK relations can return at least somewhere close to that position.

UK-India Business Coalition

A few days ago, India witnessed the largest overseas business delegation from Britain in its history. Headed by the PM David Cameron, a three-day-visit from the British policy-makers comprised meetings set to develop stronger economic cohesion between the two countries. Cameron felt “proud” of this venture and in a speech he delivered at Hindustan Unilever factory, pointed out: “India’s rise is going to be one of the great phenomena of this century…Britain wants to be your partner of choice.”

What Cameron has been talking about is not so different from previous Western delegations to India that have sought to attach their flailing economies to a more dynamic one. Even though India’s economy has plummeted slightly, it is still enjoying an average six percent of growth per year.

Along the same vein of enhancing ties between the two countries, David Cameron has an ambitious goal: to double annual bilateral trade from the 2010 figure of $17.8bn (£11.5bn) to £23bn in 2015, to coincide with the next UK general election.

The delegation is also seeking to encourage the government of India to liberate airline, banking, insurance and retail industries for all foreign investors. The education industry is a source of focus with heads of six British universities joining the delegation – the idea being, to attract foreign students. During the trip, Cameron was in Mumbai and then New Delhi, the latter of where he spoke with the PM and President of India, Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee respectively.