英国首相卡梅隆北京大学演讲全文

英国首相卡梅隆北京大学演讲全文

Twenty five years ago I came to Hong Kong as a student.

The year was 1985.

Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher had recently signed the historic Joint Declaration.

The remarkable story of the successful handover of Hong Kong and the great progress Hong Kong has continued to make is an example to the world of what can be achieved when two countries cooperate in confidence and with mutual respect.

Since then, China has changed almost beyond recognition.

China's National Anthem famously calls on the people of China to stand up Qi lai qi lai (stand up, stand up).

Today the Chinese people are not just standing up in their own country they are standing up in the world.

No longer can people talk about the global economy without including the country that has grown on average ten per cent a year for three decades.

No longer can we talk about trade without the country that is now the world's largest exporter and third largest importer and no longer can we debate energy security or climate change without the country that is one of the world's biggest consumers of energy.

China is on course to reclaim, later this century, its position as the world's biggest economy the position it has held for 18 of the last 20 centuries. And an achievement of which the Chinese people are justly proud.

Put simply: China has re-emerged as a great global power.

Threat or opportunity

Now people can react to this in one of two ways.

They can see China's rise as a threat or they can see it as an opportunity. They can protect their markets from China or open their markets to China. They can try and shut China out or welcome China in, to a new place at the top table of global affairs.

There has been a change of Government in Britain and a change of Prime Minister.

But on this vital point there is absolute continuity between my government and the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

We want a strong relationship with China. Strong on trade. Strong on investment. Strong on dialogue.

I made that clear as Leader of the Opposition when I visited Beijing and Chongqing three years ago.

And I repeat it as Prime Minister here in China's capital today.

In the argument about how to react to the rise of China I say it's an opportunity.

I choose engagement not disengagement.

Dialogue not stand-off.

Mutual benefit, not zero-sum game.

Partnership not protectionism.

Britain is the country that argues most passionately for globalisation and free trade.

Free trade is in our DNA.

And we want trade with China. As much of it as we can get.

That's why I have with me on this visit one of the biggest and most

high-powered delegations a British Prime Minister has ever led to China.

Just think about some of the prizes that the rise of China could help to bring within our grasp.

Strong, and sustainable growth for the global economy.

Vital progress on the Doha trade round which could add US$170 billion to the global economy.

A real chance to get back on track towards a legally binding deal on emissions. Unprecedented progress in tackling poverty

China has lifted 500 million people out of poverty in just thirty years. Although there is still a long way to go - that's more people lifted out of poverty than at any time in human history.

You can see the results right across this enormous country.

When I worked in Hong Kong briefly in 1985, Shenzhen was barely more than a small town, surrounded by paddy fields and waterways.

Today it is a city larger than London. It makes most of the world's iPods and one in ten of its mobile phones.

And there are other benefits too in tackling the world's most intractable problems.

I welcome the fact, for example, that more than 900 Chinese doctors now work in African countries and that in Uganda it is a Chinese pharmaceutical firm that is introducing a new anti-malarial drug.

So I want to make the positive case for the world to see China's rise as an opportunity not a threat.