Xi Jinping began his state visit to Britain with a political show of strength, as the Chinese embassy filled the Mall with thousands of supporters kitted out with T-shirts and flags, drowning out human rights protesters in a sea of red.

Speaking to parliament, the Chinese president promised a bright future for UK-Chinese relations, saying the fates of the two countries were “increasingly interdependent”. In an address more heavily loaded with aphorisms than substance, Xi steered away from geopolitics while making clear that his government would not take lectures on democracy.

Introducing Xi in parliament’s royal gallery, the Speaker, John Bercow, marvelled at the speed of China’s industrial revolution but cautioned that when it comes to international law and personal freedom nations should not simply aspire to power but seek to serve as an inspiration. Bercow went on to praise Burma’s opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and “the innate human right of freedom”.



In his 11-minute speech, Xi acknowledged that he was addressing the “mother of parliaments”, dating back to the 13th century, but added: “In China, the concept of putting people first and following the rule of law emerged in ancient times.” He noted that one Chinese legal charter went back 2,000 years.

At a state banquet of Scottish venison and turbot in Buckingham Palace, Xi repeated a theme he first raised in parliament, stressing Sino-British cooperation during the second world war as a mutually binding experience in which both nations fought side-by-side to uphold justice”, and highlighting the story of a British journalist and schoolteacher, George Hogg, who reported on “the atrocities committed by the Japanese atrocities”. He also recounted the role of Chinese fishermen in rescuing British prisoners of war.

The Queen in her remarks, spoke of the UK-Chinese “global partnership” but also alluded to shared burdens as permanent members on the UN security council, where “we have a responsibility to cooperate on these issues which have a direct bearing on the security and prosperity of all our peoples.”

Earlier the heads of state exchanged gifts, with the Queen presenting Xi with a hand-tooled edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets. The Chinese president gave her two CD’s of music by his wife, a celebrated folk singer, Peng Liyuan.

The white-tie dinner saw two memorable firsts, an attendance by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The Labour leader adopted the suggested dress code for his first sit-down Buckingham palace dinner in honour of a president. Before he walked in to the palace ballroom he would have met the Queen, who greets guests on their way in. It was believed to be his first meeting with the monarch - but no cameras are allowed to film the receiving line.

The Queen had formally welcomed the Chinese visitors with a full display of pageantry on Horse Guards Parade and accompanied Xi in a gold carriage escorted by the Household Cavalry up The Mall, which by then was a mass of red and gold flags and banners.

The significant if covert effort by Chinese diplomats to ensure Xi’s welcome was evident three hours before his arrival, with large crowds of mainly young Chinese nationals massing on the Mall. By 9am the crowd, many of them students at British universities, were lined up along the road, most wearing “I heart China” T-shirts, with China flag stickers on their cheeks and busy tying vast red and gold banners to the security railings.

These banners, welcoming the president in carefully arranged sequences of Chinese characters, spelled out messages like “Welcome Big Buddy Xi”. They arrived in large cardboard boxes and were handed out to those waiting, along with smaller flags and T-shirts.

While a small number of banners were clearly homemade, the bulk appeared to have been coordinated by China’s embassy. Labels on the boxes showed they had been initially sent by air from southern China to Beijing. Other boxes showed some flags had then been sent to the Chinese embassy in London using diplomatic freight.

Those holding the banners were, however, largely coy about their origin. One young student said he had printed his banner himself in London. Asked why it was so similar to those held by many others he replied, grinning: “We must have all gone to the same print shop.”

There also appeared to be at least some measure of official organisation. One man from Beijing said he was merely a teacher on holiday in London for a week. However, a group of young Chinese nationals referred to him as their “group leader” and said they could not talk to the media without his approval.

This huge welcoming crowd, five or six deep in places, vastly outnumbered the few hundred rights protesters, who were confined to a small pen of barriers midway down the Mall. These were split between members of the Falun Gong spiritual group, banned and repressed in China, Tibetans and other activists.

The protesters chanted loudly but were often drowned out by shouts and drumbeats from the much larger Chinese groups surrounding them.

When one group of rights demonstrators unfurled a banner on steps overlooking the Mall, they were immediately blocked by Chinese students holding giant flags in their way.

The UK government, seeing a trade and investment relationship with China as an engine of economic growth, has spared no effort in making Xi feel special. Over the four days of the visit, there will be three substantial meetings with David Cameron, as well as more social encounters at the official welcome and Tuesday night’s state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

The critics have argued Britain has sacrificed positions of principle on human rights and international law in the pursuit of economic benefit from its relationship with China, which some sceptics say the Cameron government has overestimated.

The risks were illustrated on Tuesday with the announcement of job losses in the steel industry. Tata Steel revealed the latest in a series of cuts, costing 1,200 jobs in Scunthorpe and Lanarkshire, which it blamed on the dumping of cheap steel on the world market, particularly by China.