As 2013 draws to a close, and as China has unveiled a transformative new economic strategy, the UK is putting a tremendous effort into building a strategic partnership and deriving the maximum mutual benefit from links with the newly emerging economic superpower. After last month's warm-up acts by Chancellor George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson, Prime Minister David Cameron is aiming to provide a climactic finale to this year's China strategy.

Cameron's visit to China this week is not just looking to develop purely bilateral trade and investment links, but also to place the UK at the forefront of the European Union's push for an all-enveloping EU-China trade agreement. He intends to position Britain as a shop-front for what the EU has to offer, particularly in the field of high technology and investment opportunities. This, he hopes, will finally end the state of affairs in which Britain has become somewhat marginalized as a European business destination, largely because it is not a party to the Schengen Agreement.

This is a slightly controversial strategy in the UK, as the EU is going through one of its spells of deep domestic unpopularity; there are those who would prefer to see the Prime Minister demarcating the UK more from the rest of the EU and attempting to steer Chinese business away from continental Europe. But that is not a realistic strategy. China will not be interested in such regional power plays, but will seek an interlocking network of relationships combining the strengths of all European countries, and making use of the EU's common institutions to this end.