Not-so-Great Britain Brings Opium to Chinese Summit

From Bloomberg.com

Cameron Risks Spat With Chinese by Wearing Poppy During Visit
By Robert Hutton - Nov 9, 2010 5:05 PM PT Tweet (11)LinkedIn Share

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron resisted a request from Chinese officials yesterday to remove the poppy symbol that Britons wear every November in memory of their war dead during his visit to Beijing.

Poppies have been Britain’s symbol of remembrance since World War I, when the flowers grew on battlefields. The Royal British Legion sells paper poppies in November to raise funds for veterans in the run-up to Armistice Day on Nov. 11.

The flower has a different resonance in China, which fought and lost two Opium Wars with Britain in the 19th century. Those resulted in the U.K. forcing the Chinese to open their borders to trade, including in the narcotic derived from the poppy. Britain also gained the territory of Hong Kong, which was not handed back to China until 1997.

Two British officials familiar with the matter said the Chinese had requested the prime minister and his delegation remove the poppies from their lapels before they arrived yesterday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where Cameron was greeted by Premier Wen Jiabao and inspected an honor guard of the People’s Liberation Army. The U.K. government refused, on the grounds that the symbol was important to Britain.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the Second Opium War, which ended when the British and French armies arrived in Peking, as Beijing was then known, and destroyed the emperor’s Summer Palace to remind the Chinese of their defeat.

Boosting Trade Ties

Cameron’s two-day visit has focused on boosting trade ties, yesterday signing an accord improving access for U.K. companies to China’s securities markets. Rolls-Royce Group Plc signed a $1.2 billion order to provide 16 jet engines to China Eastern Airlines Corp., and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc reached a deal with Guolian Securities Co. to underwrite bonds and shares.

The two governments also agreed to work together to improve financing for small companies. British companies will help build corporate and government bond markets, develop alternative investment vehicles and create an offshore market for the Chinese yuan.

Cameron travels to South Korea later today for the summit of the Group of 20 leading economies. He will mark Armistice Day tomorrow by visiting a memorial for British troops killed in the Korean War, where their opponents included the Chinese.

Cameron’s relationship with China got off to a rocky start even before he became prime minister, when he said during a television debate before the May 6 general election that uncertainty over China was one reason for the U.K. to keep its nuclear weapons.

British officials refused to confirm or deny yesterday that Cameron would raise the issue of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, with the Chinese leadership. China’s flagship Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, attacked the peace prize last week as a “political tool” that is “in tune with U.S. global strategy,” maintaining Chinese criticism of last month’s award.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in Beijing at rhutton1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.