UK must look at the bigger picture on China

Being among the cheering crowds as President Xi Jinping's cavalcade sped out of Manchester's Albert Square last October as his state visit to the UK concluded, one could not help but believe that a new "golden era" in Sino-British relations had begun.

Less than a year on, that narrative seems a little tarnished. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has decided to review whether to go ahead with the 18 billion-pound ($23.5 billion) Hinkley Point nuclear power station, one-third of which is to be paid for by China General Nuclear Power.

It was one of the key deals agreed during the visit and in return China was to get the opportunity to build another nuclear power station in Bradwell on the Essex coast.