Chinese trade talks bear fruit — and 2 pandas

CALL it panda politics.

China’s deputy premier kicked off talks with senior British officials yesterday, arriving with a gift that would charm the stodgiest trade negotiator: The loan of two giant pandas.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang met with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in London to sign commercial deals worth at least £2.6 billion, but the business dealings were overshadowed by the panda deal.

Li oversaw an agreement to bring a breeding pair of pandas to Edinburgh Zoo on a 10-year loan.

“Pandas are a Chinese national treasure,” said Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to Britain.

“This historical agreement will represent an important symbol of our friendship.”

Li, accompanied by a 150-strong delegation, is the first Chinese leader to visit Britain since Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government took power in May. Cameron visited Beijing in November, leading the largest official British delegation to China in modern history.

Li is widely expected to succeed Wen Jiabao as China’s premier.

The agreements signed yesterday included a commitment by Jaguar Land Rover to increase sales to China to some 40,000 vehicles in 2011, with a value of over £1bn. BP and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation also signed an agreement on deepwater exploration in the South China Sea, Clegg’s office said. INEOS, operator of Scotland’s largest mainland oil refinery, said it agreed to form a partnership with the Chinese company for trading and refining joint ventures in Britain and France.

Li’s four-day trip to Britain follows visits to Germany and financially troubled Spain. He pledged to make China’s markets more open to foreign investment while in Germany. In Spain, he signed trade deals and vowed to support Spain by continuing to buy the country’s public debt.

Analysts say Li’s European tour has been successful for Beijing and his hosts, gaining publicity for China as well as enabling European leaders to better know a potential premier. They will watch closely to see how Li handles sticky foreign affairs, such as currency controls and human rights in China.

“His reputation is [as] a bold economic reformer,” said Kerry Brown, China analyst at the London-based think tank Chatham House. “[But] it doesn’t seem likely that Li has got a clear reformist agenda” when it comes to improving democracy and political transparency, he said.