European Union membership helps United Kingdom attract Chinese investment – David Cameron

Security sources have told The Times the scheme poses a threat to national security – and a senior Tory MP has called for an inquiry.

Charles’s thoughts on China’s previous leaders are well known after he described them as “appalling old waxworks” in extracts from his journal after he visited Hong Kong in 1997 for the handover ceremony.

“For Britain, nuclear power is very important for the energy mix”. “Whatever the headlines, regardless of the challenges, we shouldn’t be running away from China”. The last incoming Chinese state visit was 10 years ago when hundreds of campaigners took to the streets to demonstrate against the country’s poor human rights record and its long-standing occupation of Tibet.

Paul Dorfman, founder of the Nuclear Consulting Group, said, “No-one else in Europe would cut this deal”.

“Xi has greatly personalized CCP rule so it’s a bit about that and of course meshes with authoritarian tendencies to hyperventilate about the leader”, said Nick Bisley, a professor of global relations at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

“There is no other major developed economy on the planet where I can imagine this being allowed to happen”, he said.

“The United Kingdom has robust regulations for the nuclear industry … our independent regulator is satisfied that the reactor for Hinkley is safe and secure”, it said.

China is being very blunt about its desire to use Britain as an important gateway that will help extend Chinese investments and influence in Europe. Among the 53 agreements made in the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue this September, three are focused on bilateral financial cooperation. It is precisely because of the slow process of building trust that Xi’s meeting with Cameron should mark a concrete starting point. “We have been placed by the police next to a pro-China demonstration in St James Park, so if President Xi wants to ignore us he will have to ignore his own people”, he said. Official Chinese figures are thin on the ground, but the JICA report estimated that China spent $7.1 billion dollars on development aid in 2013. In particular, the city of London is demanding increases in Chinese investment in terms of both value and quality, especially commercial investment (as opposed to investment in property). “But the real issue here is the extent of subsidy for that industry, not the nationality of the investors”.

A visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to London next week will be in much the same spirit, with officials keen to embrace a much friendlier relationship with Britain which, they say, trumps ties with other Western countries.

Economists also believe the anti-graft fight could benefit foreign companies operating in China as it will improve business practices. As finance minister, Osborne has an exceptionally strong influence over UK-China relations. At Xi’s summit with Obama during his state visit, China announced that it would work with the US Agency for global Development towards the United Nations poverty reduction goals, though no details of the planned cooperation have been revealed.

Whatever efforts Britain makes to raise the subject, the Chinese are unlikely to be receptive. It could also refer to things such as British ministers visiting places like Xinjiang, sending the wrong signals that their country does not care about human rights issues in China.

Xi Jinping said reform is necessary in order for China to play a greater role in global governance, and that worldwide organizations must reform in order to reflect the significance of emerging markets and developing countries.