The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, has said he wants to see a "united United Kingdom", in an apparent boost for the no campaign before September's Scottish independence referendum.

Li was asked about the referendum at a joint press conference with David Cameron in Westminster. Li said he wanted a "strong, prosperous and united United Kingdom".

He added: "I believe that the United Kingdom can stay at the forefront in leading the world's growth and development and also continue to play an important and even bigger role for regional stability and global peace." But he added: "We certainly respect the choice you make."

A spokesman for the Yes Scotland campaign said: "Unlike people in China, people here will have a free and democratic vote on 18 September when they will decide on the future of their country. We believe that decision will be yes."

This month Barack Obama said during a joint press conference with Cameron in Brussels that he wanted the UK to remain "strong, robust and united", in a clear hint that he would prefer a no vote in September's

Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state and a potential US presidential candidate, told the BBC the following last week that she "would hate to have you lose Scotland. I hope that doesn't happen but I don't have a vote in Scotland".

The day after her interview was broadcast, Pope Francis gave a guarded warningabout the risks of national division, in a Spanish newspaper interview interpreted as a warning about Scottish independence. He told La Vanguardia newspaper that "all division worries me".

There were a number of different secession movements in Europe, he said, adding: "There will be cases that are just and others that are unjust, but the secession of a nation without a history of forced unity has to be handled with tweezers and analysed case by case." referendum. PA