China’s President Xi Jinping has stated that the United Kingdom and China were growing to depend more upon each other as a “community of shared interests“.  President Xi Jinping is currently on a state visit to the UK where he has already addressed the House of Commons and the House of Lords in one session, an honour that is rarely conferred upon any head of state and a mark of how seriously the UK is taking this visit.

Later, together with his wife Peng Liyuan, The President met with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is not a great support of the Chinese regime and has in the past expressed concerns over human rights issues. Prince Charles is a personal friend of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. There was some speculation that Prince Charles ‘snubbed’ the evenings Royal banquet because of this, however, Clarence House pointed out that Charles has had ‘significant involvement” in the visit and has met with the President on several occasions.

The President’s welcome by the Queen including a full ceremony in Horse Guards Parade and a 41-gun salute and a dressage carriage procession along the Mall will be welcomed by the Communist Party Leadership. The party has been looking at the international stage to help boost its own popularity back at home.  The United Kingdom is one of the few remaining states that can offer historic ‘pomp-and-ceremony’ including a monarchy that is universally respected and admired.

Behind scenes, the UK Government is working hard to secure around £30bn of trade and investment with China.  the Treasury is looking at plans that will result in China being the UK’s second largest trading partner within 10 years.  The government have been accused of being naive, however this was denied by the Foreign Secretary, Philip hammond who said it was “very much in our national interest to engage with China. I think we are developing a mature relationship with the Chinese, they know that we are looking not just to China but to many other countries for infrastructure investment in the UK.”

The state visit, so far, has been described by officials from both countries as the start of a golden era of relations.