PRESIDENT Xi Jinping will leave for the U.K. today on the first state visit to that country by a Chinese president in a decade.

    According to Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the U.K., Xi will be greeted with a high-level reception.

    The president will be honored with a 103-gun salute on the Green Park and the London Tower Bridge, and Queen Elizabeth will hold a grand welcome ceremony for him. After the ceremony, the royal couple will accompany Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to Buckingham Palace.

    “When I say ‘super high standard,’ I mean the royal family, not only the queen but also the three generations of royal family members, will attend President Xi’s activities.

    On the government side, Prime Minister David Cameron will hold official talks with Xi and accompany him to participate in a series of activities,” Liu said at a press conference Friday.

    The Chinese president’s time in the U.K. has been scheduled with a variety of activities, including a visit to historical London and rambling in the countryside with Cameron.

    Liu noted that a number of cooperation deals are expected to be sealed during Xi’s stay in the U.K.

    “The two governments will reach a series of agreements and companies on both sides will sign big contracts in such fields as infrastructure, financial cooperation, investment, new energy, and creative industry.”

    Besides trade and investment, inter-governmental relations and people-to-people exchanges are also topics to be addressed during the visit.

    Xi is going to attend a business forum and visit parliament, where he is scheduled to deliver a major speech.

    “The two countries see more closer high-level contacts and deepening political mutual trust. Another area is deepening cooperation. The third highlight is more people-to-people exchanges, so that the people of the two countries will become more familiar with each other. China-U.K. ties are growing increasingly mature and stable, with closer cooperation in international affairs.”

    According to the ambassador, Xi will also visit the London-based Imperial College and attend the annual meeting of the Confucius Institute. More than 2,000 Chinese students pursue studies in this college.

    During an interview with Reuters ahead of the trip, Xi stood firm on Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea.

    “The islands and reefs in the South China Sea are Chinese territory since ancient times. They are left to us by our ancestors. The Chinese people will not allow anyone to infringe on China’s sovereignty and related rights and interests in the South China Sea,” he said.

    But Xi also says the Chinese side will manage disputes in the region through talks, and will always ensure freedom of navigation through the vital waterway.

    On a lighter note, Xi, a soccer fan, talked excitedly about his impending trip to Manchester, where he’s going to tour Man City’s soccer headquarters, saying his greatest expectation for the Chinese soccer is that the Chinese team will become one of the best in the world.

    The U.K. has become the EU’s second-largest investor in China as well as China’s second-largest trading partner and investment destination in EU. China is the U.K.’s second-largest non-EU trading partner. In 2014, China-U.K. trade volume for the first time exceeded US$80 billion. (SD-Agencies)