Jack Ma appointed biz adviser to UK’s PM

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Monday to kick off his first state visit to the UK with an accompanying delegation of some 150 business leaders.

The visit, scheduled from Monday to Friday, is the first state visit to the UK by a Chinese president in 10 years. Expectations are running high of deals in a number of sectors, which can in turn boost bilateral ties, said analysts.

Organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the delegation, which covers industries in finance, infrastructure, energy and investment, stands in contrast to the delegation that accompanied Xi during his visit to the US, which featured Internet companies, news portal yicai.com reported, citing London-based anonymous sources.

Separately, Downing Street said on Monday that Alibaba founder Jack Ma Yun has been appointed by British Prime Minister David Cameron as a business adviser.

Cameron's spokesman said Ma will "provide particular help and advice on how to get small and medium sized British businesses boosting their exports and in particular accessing Chinese markets through platforms like Alibaba."

Nuclear deal

Of the business leaders, He Yu, general manager of China General Nuclear Power Group, and Yu Peigen, deputy general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation, have garnered the most attention as it is highly anticipated that China will announce a deal for a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset during Xi's visit, the yicai.com report said.

Other infrastructure and communications companies in the delegation include China Three Gorges Corporation and Sany Group.

However, Chinese high-speed train manufacturer China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) was absent from the delegation, amid media speculation over the announcement of China's investment in the planned HS2 high-speed rail line from London to Manchester.

"As the UK struggles to reverse declining economic competitiveness, China's investment in its infrastructure will spur the nation's productivity growth," Qu Bing, a scholar at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

Chen Feng, chairman of the HNA Group, was also on the list, with the report from yicai.com saying that the group is planning on purchasing most of the stock rights of Manchester Airport. HNA Group refused to comment when reached by the Global Times on Monday, but an anonymous source with Hainan Airlines, which operates under parent company HNA, told the Global Times that the company will unveil new flight routes from China to the UK during Xi's visit.

Sino-British tech fund

The delegation also includes leaders in the banking industry, with the chairmen of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China and the Construction Bank of China attending, while yicai.com reported that the Construction Bank of China would open a branch in London on Monday.

Meanwhile, a Sino-British innovative technology fund with an initial capital of 6 million pounds ($9.29 million) is expected to be set up by founder chairman of ChinaEquity Group, Wang Chaoyong, who will be traveling with Xi along with other heads of investment corporations.

Also in the delegation are Geely Group's Chairman Li Shufu and the founder of Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD, Wang Chuanfu, in addition to six company heads from the China Poly Group Corporation, which is involved in the culture, real estate, security and energy sectors.

A strategic alliance between BP and China National Petroleum Corporation to develop oil resources is also reportedly possible during the visit, the BBC reported.

"Sino-UK relations are a model for China and developing countries to tap into the potential for cooperation and gain mutual benefit and win-win, but it still requires careful management in the face of challenges from within the UK and from the EU and the US," Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, wrote in an opinion article published on guancha.cn.