George Osborne wants to give Chinese investors an access-all-areas pass to Britain

George Osborne being interviewed by Today from the Galaxy Soho building in Beijing. (Photo: Benedict Brogan)

An argument is beginning to take shape that may define George Osborne’s visit to China. And Boris Johnson’s, for that matter. Ahead of the economic dialogue with the People’s Republic, which began tonight, the Chancellor mapped out why British openness will help China make the next leap forward as a global player and an international investor. China is sitting on billions of investment funds looking for long-term bets in stable parts of the world. Buying up African bauxite mines is not enough. But the places where China’s sovereign wealth funds might choose to place their money, namely Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, are often just as closed to them as China is to outside investors.

Not Britain though. Mr Osborne wants us to give China an access-all-areas pass for investment. If we are an open, free-trading nation that does not worry about who owns what, then there should be no bar to Chinese businesses, indeed Chinese state enterprises, taking a stake in British projects, even a majority stake. Mr Osborne talked up today China cash going in to Manchester to create 16,000 jobs. Next stop could be High Speed 2. Or future nuclear plants.

And that’s where the argument will be. Are we comfortable with the idea of China owning part – parts even – of us? David Cameron has talked of the importance of winning the global race, and that includes the race to secure investment. Some countries have shied away from allowing China to invest in their economies. They have concerns about human rights and more pressingly industrial espionage and intellectual property theft. Underlying that is an uncertainty about how china might turn out. Good guy? Bad guy? Friend or foe?

In part perhaps because Britain wants to move on from the awkwardness of the Dalai Lama visit, Mr Osborne went out of his way to talk up the need for a new understanding of the complexities of China. Too often, he said, people in Britain “treat China as a sweatshop on the banks of the Pearl River”. Mr Osborne has made China a personal priority. “We should always respect the fact that this is a deep and ancient civilisation,” he said in an interview with Today from the top floor of the remarkable Galaxy Soho building, designed by Zaha Hadid’s British studio. “I want to treat China differently. I don’t see China as a threat to us, I see it as a great opportunity.” The truth is, we are fairly insignificant in Chinese eyes. But it’s cash is waiting for us, and Mr Osborne wants us to consider what we are prepared to do to get hold of it.