Diplomatic pouch | Mike Peters

Britain's Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green arrived in China last week for a five-day business tour that took him to Beijing, Chonging and Hong Kong. The British Embassy in Beijing bills the visit as a follow-up to Prime Minister David Cameron's trip to China last November, when he led a significant UK business delegation and reached agreement with the Chinese government to double bilateral trade by 2015.

China is the UK's ninth largest export goods market, and several hundred British companies have a base in the country. Last year, UK exports of goods to China increased by more than 40 percent, to 7.2 billion. The UK is particularly strong in the services sector, exporting 2.3 billion in services to China in 2009.