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WORLD NEWSThursday 22 October 2015
Xi inks nuclear power deal as UK seeks Chinese investment
JILL LAWLESS may not always agree, but majority Chinese-owned. turn off the lights from some ess of Cambridge, toasted
we can discuss issues open- The deal must be approved remote location.” the Chinese leader.
Associated Press ly and constructively.” by both companies’ Others questioned the Kate and her husband
The nuclear deal will see boards. EDF said it antici- economics of the nuclear Prince William accompa-
LONDON (AP) — Britain the new Hinckley Point pated a “final investment agreement. The British gov- nied Xi again Wednesday
plant in southwest England decision” within weeks. ernment agreed to under- at an event celebrating
will be China’s “partner of built jointly by Electricite de Some in Britain worry about write 2 billion pounds ($3.1 Britain’s creative and tech-
nology industries. Xi viewed
choice” in the West, Prime innovative examples of
U.K.-Chinese collabora-
Minister David Cameron tion, including low-emis-
sion versions of a London
declared Wednesday, black cab, a red London
bus and James Bond’s fa-
as China demonstrated its vored Aston Martin car —
all due to be developed
commitment by putting through deals between
the two countries. He also
down a 6 billion-pound met some members of the
team behind hit British TV
($9.3 billion) stake in the exports “Sherlock” and
“Poldark,” and action star
U.K.’s first nuclear power Jackie Chan.
Not everyone in Britain has
plant since the 1980s. welcomed the govern-
ment’s charm offensive
Chinese President Xi Jin- toward China. Xi’s visit has
drawn protests from human
ping signed the nuclear rights and pro-Tibet groups
— though they have been
agreement on the second outnumbered by Chinese
flag-waving pro-Xi crowds.
day of a four-day visit that Steve Hilton, a former close
adviser to Cameron, called
has seen the two countries the visit “one of the worst
national humiliations we’ve
agree more than 30 billion seen.” “I think that we have
to be much tougher,” he
pounds ($46 billion) in busi- told the BBC.
“I think that we should con-
ness deals. sider sanctions onChina,
not rolling out the red car-
Cameron said the “historic pet.”
Opposition politicians and
agreement” would create trade unionists also have
urged Cameron to stand
25,000 jobs and eventually up to Xi over what they see
as unfair Chinese commer-
provide power to 6 million cial competition.q
homes. But the nuclear
deal is a focal point for crit-
ics who accuse Cameron
of wooing the Chinese for
trade deals while ignoring
the country’s human rights China’s President Xi Jinping, left, shakes hands with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, during
a joint press conference in 10 Downing Street, London, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, on the second
record. day of his state visit to the UK. China’s state visit to Britain moved from warm toasts and ceremony
to cold, hard cash Wednesday, with business deals including a major Chinese investment in the
At a joint news confer- U.K.’s first nuclear power station since the 1980s.
ence at 10 Downing St., Xi (Suzanne Plunkett /Pool Photo via AP)
said China “attaches great
importance to the protec-
tion of human rights.” France and China’s state- letting an undemocratic billion) in Chinese financ-
owned China General Nu- emerging superpower with ing to secure the deal and
“Looking around the world, clear Power Corporation. powerful espionage capa- has guaranteed the plant’s
EDF said Wednesday that it bilities access to Britain’s owners a minimum power
there is always room for im- would take a 66.5 percent critical infrastructure. price for 35 years.
share in the 18 billion-pound “It won’t be the physical se- Xi has been welcomed with
provement,” he said. ($28 billion) plant and CGN curity that matters, but the lavish ceremony on his visit,
33.5 percent. The two firms cybersecurity,” said Alan which began Tuesday with
Cameron said a strong also agreed to develop Woodward, visiting profes- a day of pomp that includ-
two further nuclear power sor of computing at the ed an address to Parlia-
economic relationship stations in southeast Eng- University of Surrey. “We ment by Xi and a banquet
land — one of which would don’t want a foreign power at Buckingham Palace dur-
could withstand frank dis- be Chinese-designed and being able to quite literally ing which Kate, the Duch-
agreements on some other
issues. “The stronger the
relationship between our
countries, the more we’ll be
able to have a serious dia-
logue,” Cameron said. “We
Spanish police raid Catalan party’s offices
CIARAN GILES headquarters, were raid- the formation on Oct. 26 of
Associated Press ed. He spoke on condition a new regional parliament
MADRID (AP) — Spanish of anonymity in keeping following elections last
police arrested eight peo- with police regulations. The month. “They won’t find
ple in raids in Catalonia on investigation, which has anything because there is
Wednesday as part of a been going on for several nothing illegal in those proj-
corruption and fraud inves- years, follows allegations ects,” Mas said of the raids.
tigation involving the north- by prosecutors that the He said both he and his
eastern region’s acting party charged businesses party were the “targets of
ruling party. A civil guard commission in exchange a hunt” that was not unre-
spokesman said the trea- for public works projects. lated to the political situa-
surer of the Convergence Convergence is at the cen- tion in Catalonia.
party, Andreu Viloca, as ter of the region’s push for Mas is under investigation
well as the head of the re- independence from Spain. for possible grave disobedi-
gion’s public works depart- The arrests came as Con- ence for his role in staging
ment and six business direc- vergence party leader and a symbolic referendum on
tors were arrested Wednes- acting regional govern- secession from Spain last
day. He said 23 offices, ment President Artur Mas year after the Constitution-
including Convergence’s signed an act permitting al Court suspended it.q
