Peter Wilson

China's view of itself, and a UK perspective

2009-11-05T10:26:38+00:00

The latest Pew Attitudes Survey data for 2009 is available on their website. They poll globally, and annually. It makes interesting reading.

According to the survey, China remains very positive about its future direction - more so than any other country surveyed. 87% of those surveyed in China think it is going in the right direction, compared to 86% last year - not bad in a financial crisis. There is an urban bias in the figures - Pew points this out in the fine print. But compared to even five years ago, using the same methodology, this is a significant improvement.

The UK is the country in Europe with the most positive view of China. That has been true since Pew started asking the question in the UK, in 2005. The numbers go up and down. But the trend is pronounced.

China: Shanghai Expo

2009-10-26T12:38:56+00:00

Today we have a guest blog from Carma Elliot, our Consul General in Shanghai:

Expo fever has definitely hit Shanghai, with a gathering last month in the city of over 800 senior officials from around the world, charged with delivering the largest Expo the world has ever seen. Among them, Ian McCartney MP, the UK's Commissioner-General for Expo.

It's just under 200 days until the start of the Shanghai World Expo. The Expo mascot, Hai Bao (or "sea baby") pops up everywhere, in official gifts handed out by Shanghai's mayor and party secretary. Here he is:

Taking place over 6 months from May to October 2010, and with over 300 official participants (countries, cities and international organisations), this is the largest Expo the world has ever seen. An area of over 5 square kilometres straddling the Huangpu river which lies at the heart of Shanghai is ready to host over 70 million visitors over 184 days.

The Chinese government has invested over $5 billion in the Expo site alone; and another $45 billion in infrastructure projects across the city. This investment, almost double that in the Beijing Olympics last year, is preparing Shanghai for its own place on the world stage next year. This Expo is particularly important to the UK, falling half way between the last and the next Olympics, in London in 2012.

For the UK, Thomas Heatherwick has designed a unique, sculptural pavilion: a six-storey high wooden structure, pierced by 60,000 acrylic rods. It is a bold statement of the UK's ambition to showcase the British nation's creativity and innovation to a vast audience.

The team placed the first of these rods in the pavilion structure on 20 October, with the sun shining down to mark the occasion.

The pavilion will be a focal point for arts and cultural activities on the site, to amuse and entertain the 40,000 or so visitors expected at the UK site every day. That's anything up to 5 million visitors over the 6 months: that's more people than pass through Heathrow's busiest terminal every day. Following their visit, they will be directed to find out more information from the UK Expo website (which will go live in mid November) and a programme of events which will take place at the Expo park, across Shanghai and throughout China.

The overall theme of the Expo, "Better City, Better Life", speaks of the challenges and opportunities for people across the globe, as urbansiation and rapid social change transform our understanding of our environment and social landscapes. With so many participants, Expos can be competitive, and particularly in China, with everybody vying to secure attention in the world's soon to be second biggest economy.

For the UK Expo team (divided virtually between London and Shanghai) putting together the UK's presence at Expo is an enormous challenge, but full of opportunity too. Last week, for example, we took the time to brainstorm how to secure at least some of the UK celebrities which the Chinese public will expect to see over that six months. And we are looking forward to working with our Chinese partners to deliver an excellent programme at Shanghai Expo!

Carma

Diplomacy for five year olds

2009-10-23T10:21:28+01:00

This morning I spoke to my son's reception class in Beijing about my job. I think it was my hardest audience. He and most of his classmates speak three languages - Chinese, English, and one other. Most of them have lived in at least one other country in their lives.

Here's what we talked about.

I said that my job as a diplomat is to help countries work together, and to stop them fighting. I tried to explain why my job matters.

The class thought countries are a bit like people. They have relationships with each other. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes they don't get along. Sometimes they argue. Occasionally they fight. If they do, that is very bad, because people can die.

To do my job well, I have to try to understand why other countries think as they do. Countries, like people, have choices. I try to help my country, and the country where I am working, make good choices. If we do, then the people who live in both our countries will be safer, richer, and happier.

In the last five years my family has lived in four countries. Britain. Portugal, where my wife is from. Pakistan, our first family foreign posting. And now China. I explained how my son helps me in his work, by being a special, friendly boy, who is kind to everyone who comes to our house. That helps me make friends, too.

My country, Britain, thinks that diplomacy is important. We send diplomats to almost every country in the world. We join as many groups as we can, to work with other countries on common problems. We learn a lot of languages. I speak Chinese, French, and some Portuguese. But I do not speak Portuguese nearly as well as my son.

Coming to China is a big job for me. China is a huge country. More people live here than in any other country. Before the children in my son's class were born, China was still quite poor. Now it is growing very fast - even faster than my son. That is not just changing China, but changing the whole world. People from other countries who know a lot about China will have important jobs to do in the future.

I like my job. Every four years, I get to learn about another place, and meet new people. It is a bit like going back to school. If I am doing my job well, I meet interesting people. If I do my job really well, then China and Britain find more ways to work with each other, and together we find ways to make the world a better place.

My son and his class told me about some of the conflicts they get involved in, and how they sort them out. And they told me ways they negotiate, too. They will make a great generation of diplomats - whatever they choose to do.

CHINA: CLIMATE CHANGE BLOG ACTION DAY

2009-10-15T14:24:28+01:00

David Concar, our climate change counsellor at the Embassy, is launching his own blog today - blog action day on climate change. You can find it at http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/concar and will soon be able to read it in English and Chinese on the British Embassy website www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk .

Climate change is a big deal for our China network. We have massively increased our work here on climate change in the last two years. It is a top priority for us at home in the UK, and working with other significant players round the world.

Working with China on the Arms Trade Treaty

2009-10-07T13:08:46+01:00

When it comes to the ATT, there are two really important groups of countries. The first and most important is those countries that most suffer from the negative effects of the international unregulated trade in conventional weapons. The second is the biggest sellers of arms. As is often noted, there is a correlation between the biggest arms selling countries and the Permanent 5 of the UN Security Council.

That is why we see a dialogue between P5 members at all levels, including between NGOs, as an important part of international efforts towards an ATT - efforts which received the support of 147 countries at the UN last year. We believe that an effective ATT can not only make the world a safer place, but also be consistent with a commercially successful international defence trade.

That is the conversation we are having with Chinese experts and it is a very interesting one. Indeed, not only are we discussing the potential benefits to our respective defence trades, but also to our wider trade in the developing world, where stability and reducing the impact of conflict are key to mutual benefit. Finally, addressing the unregulated trade in conventional arms should make our peacekeepers and nationals working overseas safer.

China's 60th Anniversary

2009-09-29T14:03:31+01:00

The People's Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949. The sixtieth anniversary is a huge day, and will see a big celebration across China. The Prime Minister recorded a message for an event at the Chinese Embassy in London to celebrate the anniversary - you can read it, in Chinese or English, or watch it, on the Embassy's website - all the links are from the front page, at www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk

A guest blog, from Alex(andra) Needham, at our Consulate General in Chongqing

2009-09-29T13:43:59+01:00

Yesterday I revisited Shuangxi village on the outskirts of urban Chongqing, where our Foreign Secretary David Miliband went in February 2008 to see a slice of rural China. It is not rural any more. Eighteen months later, the old village was gone. On the hillside behind, a new district of high-rise modern apartment buildings had been built. Street lighting was provided by solar panels and fairly large numbers of old farmers sat around, watching the world go by.

Villagers told us the old village was to be redeveloped for tourism. They had been asked to rent their land to a co-operative for an annual income of 1700 RMB per household member (about £170). This process is an integral part of Chongqing's Balanced Urban-Rural Development pilot project: farmers are encouraged to rent their land use rights to large scale co-operatives to boost development in rural areas. The co-operatives often provide job opportunities as well as as an additional rental income.

We met with one farmer whom we had last seen in February 2008. From living in an old stone house with almost no modern conveniences 18 months before, he and his family now occupied a 120m2 brand new apartment in a high-rise block. The flat was furnished with newly-bought modern furniture and appliances (TV, electric fan, water cooler, telephone). He said he was now too old (late 50s) to work as a migrant worker - no one would employ him. He spent his days walking around the compound and chatting with neighbours. He said his life was better now - it was easier as he had to do less physical labour. But he did worry about money, and that his economic power couldn't keep up with the new lifestyle he now found himself in. His wife and daughter both worked in urban Chongqing. Previously food was free, but now with no land he had to pay for it.

Other villagers we spoke to thought their lives were getting better. One shopkeeper said the gap between urban and rural incomes was fair. All depended on the kind of lifestyle you chose. He and his wife had worked as migrant workers in Guangdong for 11 years, but migrant worker life was physically tough. They had decided to return home to their village for a quieter, easier life. Business was good with lots of construction work in the village. There was now little difference in wages between a migrant's salary in Guangdong and what they could earn in rural Chongqing. The government was also giving rural people more subsidies (pension, rural medical insurance). This should help to achieve two key Government aims - reducing disparities, and boosting consumption. It will also give more people a better life.

Lord Mandelson at the Party School in Beijing

2009-09-09T13:29:02+01:00

Lord Mandelson has been in Beijing this week. He met Premier Wen Jiabao this morning, and had talks with Vice Premier Wang Qishan on the global economy, and with Trade Minister Chen Deming on trade.

His speech at the Central Party School is an important one - on the effects of the financial crisis, climate change, and EU/China relations. The school is where China trains its leading officials - not just early in their careers, but at regular intervals afterwards, for shorter and longer courses. So questions were lively.

We have also posted the Chinese version of the speech on our Embassy website.

Help us to make our blogs better

2009-09-01T19:29:47+01:00

A request from the FCO blogs team: tell us what you think about our blogs so that we can improve them.

We want to know what you like and dislike about our blogs, what you’d like to see our bloggers writing about, and how you feel about the style of our articles.

To get your feedback we’ve created a short survey. It should only take a few minutes to complete and it will really help us to understand your thoughts and feelings.

Please help us to make this blog better and take the survey

FCO blogs team

Answering some of your China questions

2009-08-19T02:19:44+01:00

I have had a lot of questions on the Chinese version of my blog. And it is not always easy to answer them systematically, as the comment system works a bit differently than the one for my UK blog. So... I have focussed on three of the big ones, and will try to answer those.

1. Visa questions. Our visa section in Beijing is one of our largest in the world. Add to that our teams in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing and it is one of our three biggest global visa networks. Most of our visa work is done through our visa application centres, in 12 locations across the country - that means we can do much more, much faster, than if we did everything through the Embassy. We want genuine applicants to go to the UK but our systems are tough on those who try to abuse the system and break our rules. Over the past three years we have been consistently rated one of the best visa services available in China, by independent observers. Most applications can be turned round inside 15 working days, we publish our turn around targets and most importantly how we are doing against them on our website www.vfs-uk-cn.com . This lets customers know how long their application is likely to take, which is the question we get asked most frequently. When making a visa application it is important to provide what the visa section ask for - these requirements, and any right of appeal, are clearly set out on the Embassy website, at www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk .

This period is the busiest of the year, because of the number of student applications. There has been something like a 20% increase on last year. We take a lot of trouble to make sure that the application process is fair, and as quick as we can make it. The vast majority of people who apply for a visa in China are genuine applicants, and our refusal rate in China is low. But there has been an increase in fraudulent applications recently, in particular for student visas from Fujian. We take a very tough line on anyone using fraud or forgery to attempt to obtain a visa, their application is automatically refused and they are banned from making a future UK visa application for ten years. The current problem is slowing us up a bit as we have to make detailed checks but we are still processing the vast majority of applications within our 15 day limit. We are committed to providing a quick, efficient and fair service.

2. The Arms Trade Treaty. A couple of people said they thought the West was happy to expand our own armed forces, but complained when China did it. It is important to be clear about what an Arms Trade Treaty would be and what it would not be. It would not have any bearing on the defence equipment that countries decide to develop for themselves. What it would do is ask all signatories to agree the criteria they should use when deciding who to sell arms to (countries would retain the sovereignty to make the ultimate decisions themselves). This would create a more predictable international market for China both as an importer and as an exporter. And it would close the loopholes that allow arms to find their way into civil wars and be used against peacekeepers. An Arms Trade Treaty would make it harder for Chinese or other weapons to be used in conflict zones in Africa, for example.

But there is a broader issue, too. The more transparent countries are about the purpose of their military expansion, the less likely others are to be worried by it. Signals of intent matter. So too do substantive military to military exchanges, sharing of doctrine, and proper mechanisms for handling crises. There is more exchange now between major militaries today than there has been in the past. But there's a lot further to go.

3. How to get into the Foreign Office. A couple of you on the English language version of this site have asked. There is a lot of material on the www.fco.gov.uk website. But if you have a particular interest in China, then you should know that our network in China is one of our largest in the world. And the opportunities here for British diplomats are likely to increase. Having a background in Chinese studies will not necessarily make it easier to get into the Foreign Office - we are looking for a broad range of people, and we need to be able to deploy them in a wide variety of places. But once you get in, if you already have some Chinese or an interest in China, that will be a big advantage for you, and good for the Foreign Office too. And particularly good for the growing China network. So please apply!

New UKTI China trade website

2009-08-10T10:12:34+01:00

UK Trade and Investment Director Alastair Morgan started his own China blog last month joined by the wider UKTI China team. The Commercial Section of the Embassy and in our three consulates, UKTI in London and the China Britain Business Council, are all contributing. You can find it in Chinese and English at blog.sina.com.cn/uktichina. The UKTI English language site is at blog.ukti.gov.uk.

There are lots of good posts on it already, including daily posts from Trade Minister Lord (Mervyn) Davies during his recent visit to China. The latest post, from Qin Li, is on information and communications technology. In other posts, Jeremy Gordon has written on opportunities from China's stimulus package. and Corin Wilson writes about doing inward investment in Wuhan, central China.

The trade and investment story is a good one. We have a demanding target, to achieve US $60 billion in two way trade by 2010. China invests more in the UK than in any other country in Europe, and we are Europe's largest investor in China, with 25% of all Chinese-recorded EU Foreign Direct Investment. The EU as a whole is China's largest trading partner in the world. I hope you will find time to click on the links.

China and the Arms Trade Treaty

2009-06-16T12:03:22+01:00

Yesterday, Monday 15th June 150 students visited the Foreign Office to start a week of action to support moves towards an Arms Trade Treaty. This matters to all of us, especially the next generation, including here in China.

The British Government strongly supports an arms trade treaty. We talk about it often with the Chinese Government, as it is a key actor in this, as in so many other debates. China and the UK both spend a lot on defence. We also both have arms industries. China has made many strong public commitments to non-proliferation and disarmament. This is the basis for a constructive conversation between us. On the Arms Trade Treaty, we are seeking to narrow our differences, and answer China's questions and concerns in multilateral negotiations.

I think there are three key reasons why an Arms Trade Treaty would be good for China , as well as good for the UK and others :

1. By establishing agreed criteria for assessing whether to export conventional arms, the Treaty will help to prevent proliferation to terrorists and insurgents.

2. China's commercial interests are expand ing rapidly and it is deploying more peacekeepers to more places. Preventing the irresponsible selling of arms will help to protect its own people overseas.

3. A treaty is also consistent with the development of a legitimate defence trade. Signing up to an Arms Trade Treaty would help countries develop a reputation as responsible arms exporters , giving them access to new markets.

An Open-Ended Working Group started work this year and is making progress towards treaty negotiations. We owe it t o our citizens to conclude a Treaty as soon as we can. We hope that we can work more closely with China on this, and come up with a practical solution that will bring benefits for all.

Tomorrow

2009-06-03T10:11:03+01:00

Tomorrow will be the twentieth anniversary of the tragic events that took place in Beijing and across China in 1989. The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, posted a blog on this today. Here is what he said:

http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/miliband/entry/tian_anmen

So far, there has been hardly a reference to the anniversary in the domestic Chinese media. The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China reports that restrictions on foreign journalists have been severely tightened. Full details from the FCCC are here:

www.fccchina.org <http://www.fccchina.org>

Peter

The law, the UK, and China

2009-05-25T11:46:53+01:00

William Ehrman, our Ambassador, gave a speech on 21 May at the China University of Political Science of Law in Beijing, on the role of politics and law in British society, and how it affects the relationship between China and the UK. The University is also the home of the China-EU Law School. I thought you might be interested to read the speech here. Thank you for your kind comment on the Foreign Secretary's Guardian article, John!

http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/?view=Speech&id=18298769

Beijing's two British Exhibitions

2009-05-19T09:30:32+01:00

There are not one but two stunning British exhibitions in China right now. For those of you who live here, see them while there's time!

The first is called Turner from the Tate Collection - the National Art Museum of China in the centre of town is exhibiting 112 of JMW Turner's major paintings from the 18th century. It is the largest and most comprehensive collection of his works ever exhibited in China. According to China Daily, "no other artist has so influenced Chinese oil and watercolour as Joseph Turner". He also had a profound influence on 19th century European impressionists. The exhibition has already blown the roof off NAMOC - parts of it had to be taken down to get these priceless paintings in. The Tate Museum and the British Council have combined to produce the most ambitious British Council exhibition in China to date. This is an important statement of our increasingly rich and creative cultural ties. If you can't get to see it, why not join the 7 million who have already viewed the exhibition on the web? www.britishcouncil.org.cn; www.namoc.org; www.tate.org.uk/britain/turner

Norham Castle, by JMW Turner

The second is an exhibition of John Thomson's late 19th century photographs taken across China. This was at the Millennium Museum just next to the Military Museum metro stop in Beijing, and is now touring other Chinese cities. His skill in particular as a portrait artist is extraordinary. The pictures offers a rare and accurate window on another time. The painstaking selection and restoration make this an unusual treat.

Beijing is an increasingly interesting and active cultural centre - from the recently renovated private quarters of Emperor Qianlong in the Forbidden City, to the continued vibrancy of the modern 798 Art District. London is, too - it is changing all the time, and the shift in the exchange rate has made it an attractive destination for overseas travellers. Both cities are richer for the increasingly ambitious exchanges between us.

Foreign Secretary's interview on China's global power

2009-05-18T09:32:25+01:00

The Foreign Secretary gave a significant interview in the Guardian today, that was posted on the web edition on Sunday night, to mark the first day of their Mandarin language edition, which starts today. You can see it in both Chinese and English at the web link below:

First anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake in China

2009-05-12T02:22:10+01:00

Today Nick Whittingham, our Consul General in Chongqing, writes:

A year has swept by and the world has changed. A financial crisis swept away the economic optimism of early 2008. Swine flu has supplanted bird flu as a global threat. But for the millions of people caught up in the tragic Sichuan Earthquake this news can feel trivial. They continue to harbour feelings of loss for those they lost and continued shock at the power of nature. How can current affairs matter when their lives was literally ripped apart at 2.28 p.m. on 12 May 2008? For them, the post-earthquake world has changed far less.

Following the disaster, I entered the earthquake zone to track down missing British people. Memories of the massive landslides, ruined towns and injured refugees continue to evoke strong feelings. I still remember toys, furniture and shoes scattered in collapsed buildings - items whose owners were often buried beneath. When talking about a journey I made towards Yingxiu (near the epicentre), a lump of emotion can still thicken my voice.

Nick Whittingham, in the Wenchuan earthquake zone, mid May 2008

When I remember the efforts of the rescue workers, I feel admiration. I remember sharing a bus with policemen leaving the disaster area after many days of rescue efforts, their faces exhausted and shocked by what they had seen. Many had bandaged limbs ? injuries sustained during their efforts to save others. I watched scores of soldiers distributing aid and shelter to survivors. And I saw young volunteers hitchhiking along the damaged roads in search of people to help. Other hitchhikers were people returning home, unsure who or what they would find.

The names of towns I had never heard of one year ago now hold a special significance and are firmly etched in my memory. Beichuan, Dujiangyan, Mianzhu, Wenchuan - these are just some of the places that I associate with the tragic sights of one year ago. But I also associate them with the energy and fortitude of the survivors. During visits over the past year to some of these towns I have seen flimsy temporary shelters replaced by tents. These tents have then upgraded with prefabricated buildings. I have seen communities rebuild themselves, businesses emerge and people look to the future.

One year has passed. The reconstruction effort has made great strides in that time. Survivors are rebuilding their lives. But today, at 2.28 p.m. on 12 May 2009, my thoughts will return to the owners of the toys, furniture and shoes who never emerged from their concrete tombs.

Nick

China's Yunnan Province, and long term co-operation with Edinburgh

2009-05-05T06:47:28+01:00

Over China's Labour Day holiday last Friday, I got to see the fabulous botanical garden in Lijiang that was established by the Kunming Institute of Botany, with the Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh, in 1998. At 4000 acres, and covering a huge variation in altitude, it is the largest and highest alpine botanical garden in the world. It is also a high point (sorry) of Sino-British co-operation: a long term project that will benefit future generations in both countries and across the world.

The area of Lijiang is host to more than 3,000 species of flowering plant. The garden alone contains perhaps 2,000. Many of Britain's flowering plants have historically come from Yunnan, and the province is one of the most varied zones for plant life in the world. That alone makes it exceptional. It is also beautiful - Jade Snow Mountain (Yulong Xue Shan), towering above the garden at well over 5,000 metres, is the name given to sixteen different peaks in the area. Below the garden lies the village that was home to famous botanists Joseph Rock and George Forrest early last century.

The co-operation between Edinbugh and Kunming has been long standing, and painstaking. It has involved remarkable botanists from both sides, who are carefully cataloguing everything they can see in the garden, and actively transplanting species from other areas that will flourish there and be protected from increasingly rapid changes in the climate and local environments. It is a vital task, to preserve biodiversity on our planet. It is also a delicate one, because the immediate economic needs of a local people that remains poor often run contrary to longer term interests in preservation. Climate change has - within less than a twenty year period - has also had a clear and demonstrable effect on the area.

My family went to Lijiang with my cousin and his wife, who both work in Shanghai. Ed had been to Lijiang before, nineteen years ago, when it was home to only 300,000 people, mostly from the Naxi minority. The area now houses 1.2 million, and there is much new building. It is still beautiful - and we were still keen to be one of the many tourists who now go. I hope we did not take too heavy a toll on the local environment, and that Kunming and Edinburgh get the support they need to carry out their vital work for many years to come.

Ramona - thank you for your comment on my Guizhou entry! It was kind of you and the Foreign Affairs Office to take good care of me.

Guizhou: China's South West

2009-04-24T15:04:36+01:00

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for the Beijing flight from Guiyang, capital of Guizhou. A slightly delayed flight is a good chance to blog!

It was the first time I've been for thirteen years. I wanted to look at the effects of the economic crisis on one of China's poorest provinces. But like so many cities in China, Guiyang is almost unrecognisable from before. Martin and Sue Wakeling, who do remarkable work for children with special needs in Guiyang, have lived through all this, since 1997, so have seen the change from up close. They mentioned ambitious hotel plans - and traffic jams!

Guizhou is landlocked. It has a population of 40 million, mostly rural. It has a lot of raw materials, including coal. It also has amazing natural scenery, and 60 ethnic minorities - mostly in the countryside - many of whom have preserved their varied local traditions.

But no one in this globalised world is immune from the economic crisis. Coal and electricity sales to other provinces are down. Enterprises have closed. Some migrants (Guizhou has perhaps 6 million working outside the province) have had to return home. I met a few of them - hard-working people living hard lives, who have made a big contribution to China's remarkable growth, particularly in recent years.

But the crisis is also seen as an opportunity here. Central government is investing large resources from its stimulus package. Local sources of funding should multiply that several times. Guizhou has been relatively poor partly because it is mountainous and remote - so it wants to build dramatically better road and rail links to coastal provinces, and within the province. In Guiyang there's construction everywhere.

Guizhou also has a big interest in pursuing a more sustainable model of development, that allows it to protect its natural environment, and promote sustainable tourism, for which it is well suited. It has been the pioneer of a 'circular economy' approach that is now national - a distinctive contribution to global concepts of sustainable development. It is determined not to forget this as it seeks to deliver more sustainable growth for its population.

I was here so briefly, and for work. But I'd like to come back with more of my own time. Even the airport is surrounded by the kind of dramatic hills that make you want to miss your flight, and start walking

Working with China on counter-proliferation

2009-04-21T09:33:58+01:00

North Korea's recent rocket firing has again put this subject firmly in the news here in Beijing, as well as elsewhere in the world. And Iran has been getting headlines even more recently, for all the wrong reasons. But underlying these two key cases is our broader approach to proliferation. We have been having a number of conversations with Chinese thinkers over recent weeks, to discuss our longer term goal - getting rid of nuclear weapons altogether.

The UK approach is set out in an FCO paper, Lifting the Nuclear Shadow: Creating the Conditions for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons. We are transparent about our own deterrent, and how it works. We are ambitious for the Non Proliferation Treaty Revision Conference that will be held in 2010. And we set out some key questions for how to reach our ultimate goal. We should be aiming for a nuclear weapons free world.

Thinkers in China see the global debate moving - in the UK and France, in the US, and in Russia too. There is also a long standing Chinese commitment to no first use. China's nuclear arsenal, like those of the UK and France, is relatively small, but increasing. China is making a welcome expansion to its nuclear civil power, which will help combat climate change - announcing this week that it will begin work on five new nuclear power stations. Thinkers here make some key points:

- there is momentum in the international debate - and in order to make the bargain at the heart of the NPT work, the P5 need to show we are serious about disarmament;

- the P5 should have a unified approach;

- questions of nuclear posture, policy and confidence building measures all need to be on the table when we talk about weapons reduction.

This debate is welcome. North Korea, and Iran, demonstrate the importance of this issue - and the need for longer term solutions, that will also provide a context for dealing with these immediate and pressing cases. We need to - and can - make progress.

London Summit - China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan's view

2009-03-30T08:36:28+01:00

China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who will attend the London Summit on 2 April with President Hu Jintao, wrote the following article in the Times, on Friday 27 March.

It is an important contribution to this meeting. And an indication of how closely China is working with us and the rest of the G20 to make progress at the Summit.

China: Human Rights Report

2009-03-26T16:51:42+00:00

The Foreign Office's annual human rights report comes out today. It includes material on China, where we have a number of concerns. We raise these regularly with the Chinese Government, at high level. We have both bilateral and EU dialogues on human rights. It is important that these work well.

Chinese leaders say that they want to see improvements in human rights. They also point out that social and economic rights have improved a great deal over the last thirty years. That is true - and China has lifted more people out of poverty in a shorter time than any other country in history. But it is also not the whole story. On civil and political rights, progress has been slow. A timetable for ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998 , would be welcomed round the world.

We point this out not because we do not want China to succeed, or because we want to use this as a card to play in diplomacy, or a tool to keep China down. It's the opposite. We have an increasingly large stake in China's success. And as China changes so rapidly, it - and the relationship with us - matter more to people in the UK, not less. Better human rights contribute to long term stability. Universal values are not a Western invention, but something we are all signed up to through our membership of the UN.

Scottish Cinema of Dreams in China

2009-03-23T03:58:30+00:00

An unusual evening in Beijing - a small pine forest, recreated in the National Film Archive (to smell like Scotland), and two wonderful films with links to Scotland, to launch the Scottish Film Festival in China.

Tilda Swinton and Marc Cousins introduced the films. They were recreating, in this huge, urban environment, the same magic that they have built up in their local film festival begun round a kitchen table in the highlands of Scotland, which has now become quite famous. There was something magical about sitting on beanbags, at the end of a small Scottish forest, with trees and light projected onto the walls, and watching the most wonderful, simple film from the 40's, I Know Where I'm Going. It was a love story set on the lonely, romantic West Coast of Scotland, and a reminder of what is really important in life.

Also a reminder to this de-racinated Scot of what an amazing country it is - and how good it is to be part of the world's first multi-national state.

If you are interested in more, the British Council website has it on www.britishcouncil.org.cn/sff For more on Scotland, try www.scotland.cn

China and the London Summit

2009-03-18T01:29:01+00:00

Duncan Sparkes, our Economics Counsellor, has just been in Shanghai, to talk at the China Europe International Business School about the forthcoming London Summit. He kindly agreed to do a guest spot on my blog. Duncan writes...

We are now in the final run-up to the London Summit on 2 April. China’s leadership has been engaging impressively with us, and it clearly wants the Summit to be a success. Three UK ministers have visited Beijing since the start of the year, and they have been received at the highest levels.

Earlier this week, we took part in an event on the London Summit at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, whose programmes the Financial Times ranks in the global Top 25. After explaining our ambitions for what we want the London Summit to achieve, I offered some suggestions how China itself could contribute to ending the economic crisis and paving the way for a durable recovery.

First, as Premier Wen Jiabao himself has stated, China’s main contribution to the world economy is to manage its own economy well. So we welcome the economic stimulus measures announced in recent months, and China’s determination to achieve 8% growth this year.

Secondly, I argued that China should continue to resist taking any protectionist trade and currency responses to the crisis. As one of the world’s leading exporters, China understands that international trade and globalisation bring great benefits, which we must not allow the crisis to reverse.

Thirdly, I suggested that the crisis had underlined the need for China to re-balance its economy, away from exports and investment and towards domestic consumption. An economy more reliant on consumption would generate more jobs, use less resources, and make it easier to achieve President Hu Jintao’s goal of a harmonious society.

Finally, I hoped that China would engage actively in the reform of the international financial institutions, to equip them to play a more effective role, with a reformed mandate and representative governance arrangements.

The ensuing panel discussion and debate with the academic staff and students was lively and provocative. Many speakers argued that the crisis had been caused by excessive borrowing and extravagant consumption by western economies, coupled with inadequate financial sector regulation. The budget and current account deficits of the United States attracted particular criticism, given the dollar’s role as the main international reserve currency. But I was reassured that, despite the crisis, most speakers recognised that globalisation had benefited China and spoke out against protectionism. And they argued that financial sector deregulation and innovation, if properly supervised, were good for the economy and should continue in China.

Read more about the outreach event at: http://www.ceibs.edu/media/archive/37784.shtml

Duncan Sparkes

China and the United States

2009-03-16T09:08:15+00:00

Everyone can see that the conversation between these two great powers has become a more public one. Premier Wen's comments on Chinese investment in the US last Friday, at his press conference following the National People's Congress, sparked a quick reaction from President Obama, who said "not just the Chinese Government but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States". Foreign Minister Yang was in Washington last week. Both sides sent clear signals about their desire for a strong, stable relationship. The two Presidents will meet for the first time at the London Summit.

Three main things struck me in the US this time:

a) optimism: this is a bad economic crisis. But there is an abiding faith in the US economy's ability to innovate, and more attention now being paid to international efforts to do the same thing. There was no interest in Government circles in playing a blame game, even when talking about global imbalances - people want to work together globally to pull the world into recovery.

b) pragmatism: all those I talked to used this word to describe Adminstration policies towards global issues. People are focussed on what works. On 4 March, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a rare address to Congress. He spoke about the economic crisis, and what needed to be done at the London Summit on 2 April: the Congressmen applauding his speech came from both sides of the aisle.

c) expertise: in one block on Massachusetts Avenue, it is possible to see ten people inside of three hours, all of whom have a strong expertise in China policy, many of whom have served in recent Administrations. All of them are experts, most of them are policy makers. The openness of the US system, its ability to come up with new ideas, and the level of its expertise on China are quite remarkable. I will not forget walking into one Congressional office and hearing two US staffers (admittedly for my benefit) talking to each other in fluent Mandarin. Hard to think of other legislatures round the world where this is possible, outside China.

I went to New York too. We have a big interest in increasing our co-operation with China at the UN. We do a lot of work together on the P5. We are stepping it up.

Thank you for your comments. Cyril - you are right to prompt me - sorry to be such a jetlagged blogger. Alan, I agree with you that the blogosphere in China is not free. But it is freer than other forms of communication here, growing fast, and says some surprising things. The trend is clear, but the consequences are not. Your continued opinions on this are very welcome. Surat - I may be in a minority on this, and I don't have a settled view, but at the moment I am less worried about cyber-nationalism than some of my Chinese friends. This weekend's publication of a nationalist tract called Zhongguo Bu Gaoxing (China's Not Happy) shows clearly that nationalism cuts both ways - just as it does in the rest of the world.

China and the US

2009-02-27T08:08:54+00:00

I'm going to Washington and New York next week. The Sino-American relationship has been described by strategists on both sides as the most important bilateral relationship in the world. I want to understand it better from the US side. Now is a good time to go.

One of the things that I want to talk about is growth of the internet in China. With more than 300 million people on line, China is now the most wired nation in the world - it passed the US last year, and since I started writing this blog. Over 40 million people have blogs of their own. This has a powerful effect on public opinion. As the rest of the world wants to know more about China, it is really interesting to learn more about what some people think. I also want to learn more about US public opinion on China, and how it is changing.

Happy to take your ideas on this with me, so do post them, from wherever you are. If you'd rather post them in Chinese, it is easier to visit my Chinese blog, www.vipwilson.sina.com .

China and the global economic crisis

2009-02-25T13:42:50+00:00

Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown spoke to Anthony Yuen of Phoenix TV about the financial crisis and the 2 April London Summit when he was here for talks. He is travelling to raise the level of ambition for the London Summit. He made some key points:

First, this is now a full blown global economic crisis. Better regulation and better warning systems are not enough. We need to co-ordinate a plan for global growth.

Second, the team has changed. There are new people in the front row, and no better example than China, now the world's third largest economy.

Third, the G20 must send a clear signal against protectionism. Free trade is centrally important to globalisation, that has brought huge prosperity, not least to China. We now live in one global market. We must keep it that way. Protectionism would also have political consequences.

Fourth, we needed to stimulate our economies. The Chinese leadership is putting more money into infrastructure, education and healthcare. We welcome this. But in London, all countries would be asking whether we have done enough. We may need to do more.

Fifth, in response to a question about rising expections of China - China is a great power. A lot is riding on all our leaders. Leaders needed to reverse a pervasive sense of insecurity, or huddle and hide. The London Summit would be a crossroads - between fragmentation, nationalism and suspicion, or an optimistic vision, underpinned by a more inclusive power arrangement. Success would have big coat tails.

Sixth, we must maintain our commitments to help the poorest.

Seventh, we need to make the recovery a green one.

This is one of many conversations that we will be having in the run up to the London Summit. There is also a public debate, hosted on the London Summit website. Please take part - at www.londonsummit.gov.uk

The China Network

2009-02-16T06:37:52+00:00

The British Government runs not just an Embassy but a network in China. It is large, and has more than doubled in the last decade. We met today as we do three times a year. Some figures:

two of our consulates, Shanghai and Guangzhou, are bigger than most of our Embassies elsewhere in the world;
we have one of only five foreign consulates in Chongqing, in Western China - enabling us to reach large areas that before the year 2000 we could not cover well;
we employ over 750 people in the mainland network, including the British Council.

Overall, the Foreign Office has reduced its numbers over the past five years. But it has significantly increased coverage in China. The most recent big push, last year, was on climate change, where we've built a country wide network now, that is doing important pilot projects across the country, including in Jilin and Zhejiang. This follows big expansions in trade, foreign policy, science, visas, and culture/education.

At our meeting today, we reviewed the past year. The progress we've made is quite astonishing. The political relationship is strong. Premier Wen in London on 2 February said that "the China UK relationship has gone beyond the bilateral scope and is having an increasingly important impact on the whole world". We are working closely together in the run up to the London Summit involving the G20 on 2 April. The Prime Minister and Premier Wen both gave a significant push to the Millennium Development Goals in New York last September. We are both permanent members of the UN security council, and work closely together in New York.

A lot of British Government departments now work out of our Embassies and consulates in China. Here are some highlights. Our Department for International Development has an important dialogue with China through exchange of best practice, and important project work here and in Africa. British exports to China went up by 32% last year. UK scientists publish more joint research papers with Chinese scientists than any other country in the world, apart from the US. We are close partners in climate change, including on important pilot projects - one in Jilin is setting up China's first low carbon development zone, another in Zhejiang is pilotting a better way to measure emissions. 21% more new students went from China to the UK last year - and China is one of the top priorities for the British Council. China is one of the top three recipients of British visas world wide. Over 500,000 British visitors came to China last year - so we have a busy consular team. As a leading member of the EU, Britain has strongly supported a free trade policy, and greater EU engagement on other key issues such as climate change, human rights, and top foreign policy issues. 2008 was a busy year.

We also did some planning ahead. China is a starred priority for every one of our overseas objectives. So it looks like this year will be busier still.

UK/China Summit, London 2 February

2009-02-03T09:02:02+00:00

Premier Wen Jiabao visited the UK from 31 January to 2 February, for the annual summit between China and the UK, which was held in London this year. He had a private dinner with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday, and he and his high powered delegation had formal talks and a lunch with the Prime Minister and several members of the British cabinet on Monday. Foreign Secretary David Miliband also held talks with Foreign MInister Yang Jiechi on Sunday afternoon. The two leaders also attended a breakfast seminar with economic and financial thinkers, and a meeting with British business leaders.

These talks were important, and reached agreement on some big issues - details of the press conference, and agreements reached, are on www.number10.gov.uk . Premier Wen's schedule was packed. He gave an in depth interview to the Financial Times (the transcript is at www.ft.com/wen ), and speeches to the China Britain Business Council, and to Cambridge University (full text at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/03/content_10753336.htmand ). He saw some of the Chinese companies who have invested successfully in the UK, and toured China Town as part of Chinese New Year.

The joint declaration http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/03/content_10753162.htm agreed between the two sides highlighted the importance of tackling the economic crisis together, and provided an important building block in preparation for the G20 London Summit, scheduled for April 12. More at http://www.londonsummit.gov.uk/en/ .

Happy New Year

2009-01-30T06:06:20+00:00

Chinese New Year is a time for people to return to their families. This is probably the largest annual movement of people in the world, with almost 200 million travelling home, mostly by train. This year, some of the migrant workers returning home will not be coming back, as there are fewer jobs for them now. China's economy is still growing fast. But the global slowdown has taken a toll here, and last quarter's growth, annualises at 6.8%, is the slowest for seven years.

We stayed in Beijing. Premier Wen is already in Europe. He has been at Davos, and is coming to the UK soon. So there has been a lot of work to do, for us and for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But there's also been a bit of time for skating on the frozen lakes behind the Forbidden City, and seeing family and old friends. This year is the Year of the Ox. A sturdy, reliable animal - qualities that we and China will need in 2009.

This year, the Foreign Secretary recorded a New Year's message, with Sir Alex Fergusson, manager of Manchester United Football Club. You can see it on the Embassy's website.

Thanks for all the comments on the strategy, and Fiona's (YL Ting's) Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you too!