It's time to add glitter to golden age

The parades are over, the speeches are made and the photographs taken. Now it's time for China and the United Kingdom to buckle down and turn the much-vaunted golden age of their relationship into a reality.

The high point has to have been October's hugely successful state visit by President Xi Jinping, which revealed to the British public the human being behind the speeches and the official photographs, and the message he brought, which was: "Let's do business."

His visit followed a highly successful trip to China by Prime Minister David Cameron's right-hand man, Chancellor George Osborne.

During Xi's visit, high-profile deals were struck, including plans to boost Britain's nuclear power industry in a way that will modernize the country's power plants, at the same time giving China the long-desired seal of approval on its power plant designs. British safety criteria are widely regarded as the toughest in the world.

Don't underestimate the enormity of that particular deal, as it is the embodiment of what Chinese officials here often call the win-win factor.

Work gets under way on Hinckley Point, which will use French technology with Chinese investment, later in the year, pending the final investment decision. The other two plants, Bradwell and Sizewell, will be constructed later, using Chinese nuclear technology. Attention is also being focused on the potential for Chinese involvement in the ambitious HS2 project, a high-speed rail line linking London with the so-called Northern Powerhouse - northern England, where growth is being encouraged.

Osborne and many others have been impressed by the design and efficiency of China's high-speed train system, and there are high hopes that China Railway Rolling Stock Corp will be among the main bidders for construction of the line. That is an 11 billion pound ($16.4 billion; 14.9 billion euros) contract with an estimated 25,000 jobs at stake.

China is already heavily involved in the UK's transportation network. The familiar London taxicabs are now built by a subsidiary of Geely, and during Xi's visit BYD announced the construction of an all-electric double-decker bus, which will gradually take over on London's bus routes, doing away with diesel and bringing cleaner air to the British capital.

Tourism is also a focus - as China's booming middle class flexes its muscle, its appetite for travel has grown. Britain is eager to grab a share of that market, and VisitBritain, the country's official tourism promotion organization, has been advertising in China on a regular basis.

Twenty years ago, a Londoner couldn't have imagined the numbers of Chinese visitors we now see on the streets, attracted by such obvious landmarks as Tower Bridge, Big Ben and their more modern counterpart, The Shard.

Hainan Airlines has deemed the traffic potential between China and Manchester, in northern England, to be worthy of regular flights. British Airways, as well as flying to Beijing and Shanghai, also plies a successful route between London and Chengdu in western China.

Amid the business deals there's a cultural side as well - the British government is helping fund a project to translate all of Shakespeare's works into Mandarin, and the UK is bringing cash and expertise to help develop grassroots football in China.

Coupled with that is a huge investment from a Chinese consortium led by China Media Capital Holdings into Manchester City Football Club, with the Premier League club's owners parting with a 13 percent stake in return for over 400 million pounds.

China, where games from the hugely successful English Premier League are again being screened by CCTV after a 12-year hiatus, will benefit from soccer youth academies, and Manchester City will benefit from a new generation of players to choose from.

The author is managing editor of China Daily Europe.

(China Daily European Weekly 01/01/2016 page15)