Visit promising for stronger China-UK ties

On Sunday, the United Kingdom's Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, was due to begin a visit to China. His trip to Beijing, Shanghai and southwest Yunnan province, is the first visit to the Chinese mainland by a member of the British royal family in nearly three decades.

Second in line to the British throne after his father, Charles, Prince of Wales, William gained immense popularity with his marriage to Catherine Middleton in 2011. The young royal couple has since become a well-received part of British diplomacy, receiving warm welcomes during their visits to Australia and New Zealand in April and the United States in December.

For the United Kingdom, visits to a foreign country by members of the royal family mean that the country is high on its diplomatic agenda. Invited by the then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, the Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip and a royal entourage of 50 visited China in 1986. Likewise, supported and designed by the British government, Prince William's visit can be seen as a signal of the UK government's strong desire to push for a better relationship with China.

Since they established full diplomatic relations in the 1970s, both the People's Republic of China and the UK have made consistent efforts to maintain a sound and reciprocal relationship. Yet, speed bumps have emerged every now and then and ties became strained in 2012 after the British Prime Minister David Cameron met with the Dalai Lama despite the Chinese government's repeated solemn representation requesting him not to. London's unwanted political interference in Hong Kong affairs, such as constitutional reforms, has also had an adverse influence on ties.

It was not until Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's official visit to Britain in June that both countries started resuming leader-to-leader and trade exchanges. Also, Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly visit the UK soon after Prince William finishes his tour, which is expected to give another boost to better relations.

The British royal family, as a constitutional monarchy is not part of the political decision-making, but it does play a big role in building Britain's global image. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which was broadcast live, was reportedly watched by more than 2 billion people around the world.

The year has been designated as year the Year of China-UK Cultural Exchanges, and both Beijing and London are showing their determination to improve ties.

Admittedly, the importance that the UK government attaches to relations with China is essentially out of economic concerns. But this is understandable given the damage that the global economic crisis in 2008 wrought on the British economy.

The two countries are important mutual trade partners, and Britain has become China's second-largest trade partner among the European Union members last year. More, their bilateral trade volume is expected to reach 100 billion US dollars in 2015, given the year-on-year growth of 16.6 percent in trade in goods from January to November 2014.

At the same time, the UK's competitive geographical location, economic policies, mature market and English language, have made it a major destination for Chinese investments in recent years, which include the high-end manufacturing industry, infrastructure, even hotel real estate. By the end of 2013, over 500 Chinese enterprises had a presence in the country, bringing a total of nearly 40 billion US dollars of investment stock, much more than the present British investments in China.

As the 2015 British General Election approaches, it would be wise that London resort to betterment of China-UK relationship for not only economic recovery, but also domestic voters' confidence.

The author is a researcher of European studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.