British charm offensive targets Chinese cash

LONDON (AFP) - Britain is making huge efforts to attract investment from China to kickstart an economy teetering on the brink of recession - and it is playing its trump card of being outside the euro zone.

Finance minister George Osborne visited China this month and Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed Premier Wen Jiabao for talks in London in June, both repeating the message that Britain is 'fully opened to foreign investments'.

In China, Mr Osborne said he was keen to make London a leading international hub for the exchange of the yuan. The attempts to lure Chinese investment show Britain is seeking to distance itself from the United States and France where some hostile voices question the intentions of China's CIC sovereign fund.

The fund, lavishly stocked with US$410 billion (S$512.9 billion), is looking to invest in infrastructure projects in Europe and North America. Britain hopes it will help finance the 30 billion pounds (S$59 billion) worth of infrastructure projects that Mr Cameron's government launched last year in a bid to stimulate the struggling economy.