Chinese State Visit: President Meets Queen

The Queen welcomes Chinese president Xi Jinping at Buckingham Palace ahead of a state banquet on the first day of his visit.

By Faisal Islam, Political Editor

Chinese president Xi Jinping has met the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh ahead of his address to Parliament this afternoon.

David Cameron hailed a new "Golden Era" in UK-Chinese relations as Mr Xi officially began his state visit to Britain by taking part in a procession to Buckingham Palace with his wife Peng Liyuan.
Mr Xi was welcomed for a stay at the palace by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and will attend a state banquet in his honour this evening.
There will also be visits to Chequers, where he has requested a meal of fish and chips, and to Manchester, which is at the centre of the Northern Powerhouse in which Chancellor George Osborne is seeking Chinese investment.

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The sheer scale of the visit is a result of years of effort from Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne to re-calibrate Britain's relationship with China.
The Prime Minister says £30bn worth of trade and investment deals will be completed - creating 3,900 jobs in energy, transport, retail, and property.

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Mr Xi has met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend the state banquet this evening, as will Mr Cameron and the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The president will address MPs and peers in Parliament at 4pm.
There were clashes between human rights protesters and Chinese supporters during demonstrations ahead of Mr Xi's procession to the palace.

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The police were forced to intervene and a 81-year-old Free Tibet protester was threatened with arrest after failing to move when officers asked her to.
Mr Corbyn has said he will raise the issues of human rights and of cheap Chinese steel flooding the European market and crippling the UK steel industry in a private discussion with the president ahead of the banquet.
Speaking to Sky News ahead of Mr Xi's address to parliament later, Mr Hammond denied Britain was in a "master/servant" relationship with China.

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He said over the next 10 years Britain would develop a "deeper relationship" with China that would bring huge benefits to Britain such as investment in infrastructure, high-spending Chinese tourists and Chinese students.
He said China's economy was "evolving" but it was still a developing economy and much of the country was underdeveloped, which provided opportunities for British businesses.
Mr Hammond said the issue of steel would be raised during the visit and told Sky News: "It's certainly one of the subjects that will be on the agenda, the steel industry. China is a very big producer of steel, as you would expect.