BEIJING: Hounded by Brexit rows at home, Prime Minister Theresa May met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday to seek deeper trade ties after Britain leaves the European Union.
May began her trip with plans to announce nine billion pounds ($12.7 billion) in business deals, an agreement to end a ban on British beef and promises to seek more trade opportunities.
But criticism in London over her domestic agenda and her handling of Britain's contentious divorce with the European Union loomed large, prompting her to declare she was "not a quitter" before her arrival.
May held talks with Xi at the Diaoyutai State Guest House on Thursday after visiting an agricultural sciences academy, but there were no immediate readouts of their meeting.
The BBC reported that May, who was expected to raise environmental concerns, would present Xi with a box set of the network's Blue Planet II series, with a personal message from presenter David Attenborough.
Brexit crept into her talks with Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday, though her Chinese counterpart reassured her that their "golden era" of relations would not be affected by London's EU departure.
"As a trade and strategic partner of both Britain and the EU, China certainly hopes that the result (of Brexit) will be good for both sides," said Cui Hongjian, director of the European studies department at the China Institute of International Studies.
"If it comes to a double-lose result, that will be also unfavourable to China," Cui told AFP.
China worries that Britain's EU exit will remove a pro-free trade force from the bloc and give rise to protectionism, he said"
Wooing China is part of London's broader strategy to seek deeper trade ties with countries beyond Europe's borders after Britain leaves the EU next year.
- Silk Road -
Britain runs a 25.4-billion-pound trade deficit with the Asian giant and only 3.1 percent of British exports go to the country, according to Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit.
"A key focus for PM May's visit will need to be on how to improve market access for UK exports of goods and services into the Chinese market," Biswas said.
May said on Wednesday that the two countries had agreed new measures to improve such access, including lifting a ban on British beef exports to China within six months.
She also cautiously welcomed China's Belt and Road initiative, a massive infrastructure project aimed at reviving ancient Silk Road trade routes and creating greater market access for Chinese companies.
But she stressed that the two countries would continue to work together to ensure that the endeavour "meets international standards".
The project has spurred both interest and anxiety in many countries, with some seeing it as an example of Chinese expansionism.
Despite the concerns, Standard Chartered announced a memorandum of understanding in which the British bank would receive 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) from the state-owned China Development Bank to back Silk Road projects.
The British prime minister was also under pressure to address the political situation in Hong Kong and human rights abuses in mainland China.
Chinese authorities have carried out a relentless crackdown on civil society since Xi took office in 2012.
But she had yet to make public statements about either matter during her visit, which ends in the business hub of Shanghai on Friday.
Before her trip the former British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, sent a letter to Downing Street saying the semi-autonomous city, which London handed back to Beijing in 1997, was facing "increasing threats to the basic freedoms, human rights and autonomy".
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