UK "needs Chinese investment", says ambassador ahead of Jinping visit

The UK "needs Chinese investment", the Chinese ambassador said on Sunday, one day before President Xi Jinping begins his visit to the UK.

Discussing the highly anticipated agreement for the construction of a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, Liu Xiaoming said it was "in the best interests of Britain and also in the interest of partnership between China and UK".

"UK people want to have clean energy," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme.

That came as EDF's chief executive said that he hoped to announce an agreement with Chinese investors in the near future, although he added there was no certainty it would happen during Jingping's visit. Negotiations are in the final stages, he said.

"If all goes well, we will be able to announce major news in coming days; the first nuclear new-build in Europe since the Fukushima accident," Jean-Bernard Levy told French television station iTELE.

Xiaoming added that he "certainly hoped" a deal would be made "because it is a very important project between our two countries".