BEIJING — British Prime Minister David Cameron urged China on Wednesday to embrace political reform as the best way to ensure social stability and continued economic growth. In a speech at elite Peking University, Cameron said China's abandoning of Marxist economics had been a positive force both inside and outside the country, and said he hoped in time that would lead to greater political openness. However, excerpts of his speech released by his office made no direct reference to specific cases of political repression, such as the 11-year prison sentence being served by this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. “The rise in economic freedom in China in recent years has been hugely beneficial to China and to the world,” Cameron said. “I hope that in time this will lead to a greater political opening ... because I am convinced that the best guarantor of prosperity and stability is for economic and political progress to go in step together,” he said. Cameron spoke on the second and final day of a visit focused overwhelmingly on boosting business ties as part of the prime minister's stated aim of doubling bilateral trade by 2015 to more than $100 billion, including $30 billion per year in British exports. Cameron reiterated his determination to boost those ties, saying, “Free trade is in our DNA. And we want trade with China. As much of it as we can get.” Among the contracts signed so far is a $1.2 billion deal for jet engine maker Rolls-Royce to provide engines for 16 A330 jets operated by China Eastern Airlines. Cameron is being accompanied by four Cabinet ministers and about 50 business leaders — the largest official British delegation to visit the country in modern history. It wasn't clear what effect, if any, Cameron's comments on political reform would have. China last dallied with the idea of reforming its authoritarian one-party system after the adoption of economic reforms three decades ago. Such debates were stopped cold by the bloody 1989 suppression of pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. In recent months, however, Premier Wen Jiabao, with whom Cameron met on Tuesday, has revived that discussion to a degree with calls for unspecified reforms to shore up economic gains. At the same time, the government has taken a renewed hard-line stance against dissidents such as Liu, who put forward concrete proposals challenging the party's absolute control. While Cameron's trip has gone outwardly smoothly, it was revealed Tuesday that Chinese diplomats objected to the wearing of Remembrance Day poppies by Cameron and members of his delegation during their meetings in Beijing. The poppies are worn to honor Britons who died in war. Remembrance Day is Thursday. The diplomats stated the poppies would be offensive because they are a reminder of the 19th century Opium Wars, in which British forces defeated Chinese troops on their own soil, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “We informed them that they mean a great deal to us and we would be wearing them all the same,” the official said.
