Salmond's China tour 'perfectly timed to help Scottish economy'

Published on Sunday 5 April 2009 22:18

ALEX Salmond arrived in China yesterday convinced that his visit would "open doors" and give Scotland a clear advantage in the race to beat the recession.

The First Minister is due to meet Hong Kong's political leader, chief executive Donald Tsang, today before addressing the Scottish Business Group in the former UK colony.

Mr Salmond's visit to Hong Kong will then lead into a week-long series of business, energy and education events in mainland China.

A spokesman for the First Minister said last night that Mr Salmond believed he could help stimulate increased trade with China, helping Scotland out of recession.

The spokesman refused to put a figure on how much increased business Mr Salmond expected to flow from his trip but he stated: "We can open doors to both traditional and emerging Scottish industries, and help them realise the mighty opportunities that exist in Hong Kong and mainland China.

"In that sense, the visit is perfectly timed to help the Scottish economy emerge from recession more quickly and even stronger."

Mr Salmond's trip to China is the second by a senior Scottish politician in less than a month. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy was in China two weeks ago, on a similar mission to boost trade with what is still one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

The First Minister is expected to tell the business leaders that partnerships – particularly in whisky, financial services, renewable energy and education – will help both countries to prosper.

Mr Salmond believes he can use the influence of the Scottish Government to ease the way for others, such as Gavin Hewitt of the Scotch Whisky Association and Jack Perry, the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, both of whom are in China with him and will be meeting senior figures from the ministry of commerce.

Mr Salmond, education secretary Fiona Hyslop and the eight officials accompanying them will move on to Shanghai to-morrow and then to Beijing for the remainder of the week.

Mr Salmond's spokesman said the invitation to the First Minister had been made some time ago by the Chinese government.

He added that Mr Salmond had met Amnesty International and the Scottish Human Rights Commission ahead of the trip to discuss human rights concerns in China, and how these could best be expressed.

The trip coincides with the annual Scotland Week events in the US, where the Scottish Government contingent will this year be led by deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon. The China visit is intended to build on existing links in areas such as education, and exploit new opportunities in areas such as renewable energy, golf tourism, life sciences and computer gaming.

It will be the tenth Scottish ministerial visit to China since 2004, and follows a trip last year in which Ms Hyslop signed a deal with the Chinese education ministry.

More than 5,000 students from mainland China and Hong Kong are now studying in Scotland and each is thought to generate at least 50,000 in tuition, goods and services over the course of a four-year course.

Scotland has eight "Confucius" classrooms where school pupils learn about Chinese history and culture, and school visits to China are to begin later this year.