China hosts British foreign secretary, says social differences not a hindrance to ties

China: Differences with Britain don’t hinder ties

BEIJING — Britain’s visiting foreign secretary called Wednesday for greater autonomy and human rights in China’s remote Himalayan region of Tibet, while his counterpart said their differences on the issue will not negatively affect ties.

William Hague was making his first official visit to China as foreign secretary and told reporters the main purpose of his trip was to strengthen bilateral trade that reached $39.1 billion last year, though British imports to China only made up $7.9 billion.

“In the years ahead, I see the U.K. and China as partners in growth. We are both beneficiaries of globalization and we have shared interests in furthering this process,” Hague said.

Like most other European countries, Britain generally exports high-end goods and services, which have a small market in China. Meanwhile, China is flooding British markets with low-cost consumer goods. Trade in the first four months of 2010 was up nearly 30 percent, according to Chinese statistics.

“There’s a big economic opportunity, but just as we favor China having improved access to EU markets, well then, there’s a reciprocal side of that, which is improved access to China for British and other European companies and that is a major part of what we have to do,” Hague said.

Despite the healthy trade, the relationship between China and Britain has been unsettled by commercial disputes, tiffs over climate change and China’s execution late last year of a British national convicted of drug trafficking.

Hague also noted during a news conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi that London has “long-standing human rights concerns” about Tibet, the traditionally Buddhist region in far western China.

Tibetan areas have been tense in recent years, with locals complaining about restrictions on Buddhism, government campaigns against their revered spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and an influx of ethnic Han migrants that leave Tibetans feeling marginalized.

Those feelings boiled over into deadly anti-government riots in 2008.

“We want to see long-term stability for Tibet, which in our view implies work on human rights and greater autonomy,” Hague said.

Yang acknowledged different “social systems and cultural heritage” between China and the U.K. but said disparate views on some issues wouldn’t have an adverse effect on normal ties.

“We believe that the common interests of the two countries far outweigh the differences between the two sides,” he said.

Hague met Premier Wen Jiabao later Wednesday. He is scheduled to travel to Japan on Thursday, where he was expected to meet top officials including the prime minister and foreign minister, along with business leaders.