LONDON (AP) — The latest news of the first full day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Britain. All times local:
5:45 p.m.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping and his wife are expected to dine on turbot and
venison at a gala state dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and her
husband Prince Philip.
Buckingham
Palace officials Tuesday released the menu for the grand event, which
will include more than 170 guests for a sit-down meal in a palace
ballroom.
Musical selections
will include Chinese folk songs, the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and
"Nobody Does it Better," a James Bond theme song.
The
fish course will be West Coast turbot with lobster mousse. The Balmoral
venison will be prepared in a Madeira and truffle sauce.
Desserts will include a dark chocolate, mango and lime confection and the fine wine selection will be set off by a vintage port.
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To welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife on their state visit, Queen Elizabeth II has given the couple a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets and a pair of candlesticks.
Xi
is said to be a keen reader of the Bard, and the sonnets were presented
in a specially-made leather and gilt box. The queen also presented her
traditional gift to world leaders — a pair of silver framed photographs
of herself and Prince Philip.
In return, Xi gifted the queen two of his wife's folk song albums — first lady Peng Liyuan is a celebrated singer in China.
Xi also presented the queen with a work of embroidery, a large porcelain dish and a stamp booklet.
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4:40 p.m.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has addressed Britain's political leaders and lawmakers in Parliament.
Xi, who arrived at
Parliament after lunching with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace,
spoke about the history of Britain's friendship with China and how both
countries are increasingly interdependent with shared interests. He said
he is certain that the two countries can take bilateral relations to a
new height.
Prime Minister
David Cameron sat with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in the audience,
which included politicians from all parties.
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3:20 p.m.
Queen Elizabeth II has taken the Chinese president and his wife on a tour of the Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace.
The queen is showing Xi Jinping, who is on a state visit to Britain, a display of items relating to China.
Earlier,
Prince Charles and Xi held a private meeting where reporters were
denied access. The occasion was somewhat diplomatically sensitive:
Charles, the heir to the throne, hasn't had smooth relations with
Chinese leaders in the past. He has met the Dalai Lama a number of times
over the years, and in 1999 he was accused of boycotting a Chinese
state visit to the U.K. by failing to attend a banquet held for
then-President Jiang Zemin.
Charles
isn't attending the state banquet in Buckingham Palace later Tuesday.
Royal officials say it wasn't a snub and that Charles was focusing on
private talks with Xi.
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1:20 p.m.
Minutes after Chinese
President Xi Jinping was received with pomp and pageantry at Buckingham
Palace, lawmakers questioned Britain's relations with China in an urgent
parliamentary session called after new British steel job losses were
blamed on cheap Chinese imports.
Opposition
lawmaker Kevin Brennan questioned how the British government could
secure the future of his country's steel industry in the face of China
selling steel at a loss on world markets, including Britain.
Tata Steel announced Tuesday it was cutting 1,200 jobs in the U.K., blaming the layoffs on Chinese imports.Trade associations want Prime Minister David Cameron to press the Chinese president on steel "dumping" and fears about further job losses.
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12:40 p.m.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived at Buckingham Palace in style — in a gilded carriage drawn by white horses.
The royal coach drove up the wide thoroughfare of the Mall, which was lined with British and Chinese flags, and by hundreds of well-wishers and counter-protesters.
Demonstrators from human rights and pro-Tibet groups jostled with Xi well-wishers, who far outnumbered them and whose chants of "China! China" drowned out their rivals.
Talon Li, a Chinese finance student at Greenwich University, said he had arrived at 5:30 a.m. with some classmates to welcome Xi and support closer ties between the two countries.
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12:30 p.m.
Tata
Steel has announced plans to cut 1,200 jobs in the U.K., underscoring
the damage caused by cheap Chinese imports and throwing a shroud over
the first day of a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping designed
to usher in a "golden era" of relations between the two countries.
The
announcement of layoffs in northeast England and Scotland flatly blames
the job losses on a "flood of cheap imports, particularly from China,"
together with a strong pound and high electricity costs. Though the
layoffs have been rumored for days, the timing of the announcement —
coming on the first day of Xi's visit — seemed certain to win maximum
attention.
12:20 p.m.
The Chinese state visit has opened with military pomp — a genre at which both Britain and China excel.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan have been greeted by
Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip and dignitaries including
Prime Minister David Cameron at Horse Guards parade-ground in central
London. The Chinese leader was welcomed with a 41-gun artillery salute
before inspecting an honor guard of troops from the Grenadier Guards in
scarlet tunics and bearskin hats.
Later,
the British monarch and her guests will take a carriage ride along the
flag-lined Mall to Buckingham Palace, about a half-mile (1 kilometer)
away.
Hundreds of people lined
the route ahead of time, with pro-China demonstrators waving red flags
outnumbering protesters from human rights and pro-Tibet groups.
___11:25 a.m.
Supporters of Chinese President Xi Jinping are gathering in London for a gala arrival ceremony to mark the official start of his state visit.
Chinese and British flags lined the route where the procession will take place, with some dancing in the street with a dragon costume.
Xi
is to receive a formal welcoming ceremony and a carriage ride to
Buckingham Palace on Tuesday before he addresses both houses of
Parliament. Xi will be a guest of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband
Prince Philip.
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