The Telegraph comments on Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s visit to China:
Chinese goods have controlled American inflation while Chinese savings have financed American consumption. China’s demand for raw materials is not only underpinning world commodity prices: as the Chinese do not care whom they buy from and are happy to pay their cheques straight to Swiss bank accounts, it is also undermining the quest for good government in Africa. We can only hope that in private – megaphone diplomacy would be worse than useless – Mr Brown has tried to persuade his hosts that well-run countries can still produce oil and minerals.
But Britain needs China almost as much as China needs Africa. Free trade is in our DNA, so we should do everything to cultivate the Chinese market, while understanding the risks. Mr Brown’s offer of London as a base for China’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund is a good start. [Full text]
