Beijing: British Prime Minister Theresa May began her official trip to China on Wednesday with a visit to Wuhan University, where she announced bilateral education initiatives with a value of 500 million pounds.
May addressed an audience of some 200 Chinese and British university students at the campus in central Hubei province.
The Conservative leader said education served as a way to strengthen friendly relations between the UK and China heading into the future.
She said that a clutch of initiatives signed by the two nations was worth over half a billion pounds and would unlock over 800 job posts in the UK.
Such investments included the launch of English is Great, which seeks to promote the study of English in China, as well as a 75 million pounds investment in the British company Busy Bees, with the aim of opening up to 20 daycare centres in China.
May was later expected to visit an environmental project on the Yangtze River before travelling to Beijing for a meeting with her counterpart Li Keqiang.
The British Premier said she expected China to play a “huge role” in the economic development of the world, adding: “I want that future to work for Britain, which is why, during my visit, I’ll be deepening co-operation with China on key global and economic issues that are critical to our businesses, to our people, and to what the UK stands for.”
She acknowledged that her agenda “will not be delivered in one visit: it must be our shared objective over the coming years”.
In a statement, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said Beijing saw May’s trip as “an opportunity to achieve new development of the China-UK global comprehensive strategic partnership”.(IANS)
