Outgoing BBC economics editor Robert Peston described President Xi Jinping, who arrived for a four day state visit in the UK on Monday, as a tough, charismatic head of state who is probably the most important Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping. [Special coverage]
Peston, known for his penetrating insights, will soon leave the BBC to host his own politics program on the rival ITV network.
"President Xi is an extremely important figure," he told China Daily in an exclusive interview ahead of the first state visit by a Chinese leader in 10 years.
He described Xi as someone whohas "put apersonal stamp on the country in terms of economic reform, anticorruption, political reform and foreign policy."
Inrecent years, as China UK relations have been elevated, visits by highranking officials from both countries have increased, including Prime Minister David Cameron's trip to China and Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the UK, both lastyear, and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's weeklong trip to China last month.
Peston, who went to China to cover Osborne's trip, said the frequent official visits help strengthen the SinoBritish relationship and expand economic and trade collaboration.
"It is certainly the case that Britain needs to get on better trading with the rest of the world. We have a big deficit on trade and current account, which is not sustainable for the long term," he said. "China has gone through this really impressive transformation since 1980 and is the secondlargest economy in the world. It's important for Britain to sell more to China.
"For China, at this stage of economic development, when it's generating big surpluses, it makes sense to invest in more developed economies so that it has a stream of income from its investments abroad as it becomes amoremature economy."
Peston said he believes Britain and China have a mutual interest in forming closer economicties, so there will be more trading opportunities for Britain in China and more investment opportunities for China in Britain.
Peston, who has been visiting China since 1999, said he loves the country, adding that "there is something exciting about seeing a country transform on the scale that China has been transformed".
During Osborne's weeklong visit, Peston had a chance to talk with a number of Chinese business leaders and investors.
He said that what struck him the most during his trip was that, without exception, the businesspeople he met recognized that the economic transformation from a debtfueled investment model to a consumption model would be painful. He said that inevitably it's a painful experience when a government moves from one economic model to another.
