Xi Jinping to sign
Hinkley Point nuclear power deal in UK
China's
head is expected to place the seal later on its involvement to what will be the
first UK nuclear power plant to be built in a production.
The
plant could be opened by 2025 at Hinkley Point, in Somerset, with China possible
to cover about 30% of the cost.
President
Xi Jinping is meeting Prime Minister David Cameron later, on the 2nd day of his
UK state visit.
More
than £30bn value of deals between the UK and China are predictable to be struck
during the 4-day visit.
The
plant will be built by French energy firm EDF, in union with a group led by
Chinese state-owned nuclear company CGN.
Two
other nuclear power stations, at Sizewell in Suffolk, and Bradwell in Essex,
could follow as part of the deal with China.
Last
month, Chancellor George Osborne visited China and protected the deal under
which Beijing will invest in Hinkley Point.
'Security concerns'
The
Hinkley Point project has come under fire more than its cost and the delays to
investment decisions and the schedule for building.
The
original plan was for Hinkley Point to start generating electrical energy by
2023.
The
government has also been criticized for guaranteeing a price of £92.50 per
unit of electricity - more than double the current cost - for the
electricity Hinkley produces.
That
might mean higher bills for consumers, critics such as Greenpeace say.
The
government insists that 25,000 jobs will be created and sufficient energy to
power 6 million homes.
Opponents
have also raised safety concerns about allowing China a middle role in
Britain's nuclear future.
China and the UK
During
the first full day of his visit on Monday, Mr. Xi said he believed the UK
and China were becoming more mutually dependent and a "community of public
interests".
Addressing
peers and MPs in Westminster, the Chinese leader said that, even though his
visit had just started, he was "acutely impressed by the energy of
China-UK relations".
He
and his wife, Peng Liyuan were welcomed by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and
Mr. Cameron during a ceremony in Horse Guards Parade before attending a state
banquet at Buckingham Palace along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The
Treasury hopes that in 10 years China will be Britain's 2nd main trading
partner.
But
the visit comes in the middle of job losses in the UK steel sector, with contemptible
Chinese imports among the factors being blamed.
Tata
Steel has announced the latest in a sequence of cuts, with 1,200 jobs going at
its plants in Skuthorpe and Lanark shire. Mr. Cameron has said he will increase
the steel issue in his talks with Mr. Xi.
The
president will also visit Imperial College London, accompanied by the Duke of
York and Chancellor George Osborne, and attend a creative industries event with
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Following
talks at Downing Street he will visit Chinese communications firm Huawei's UK
offices before a banquet hosted by the City of London at the Guildhall.