-Well, there's a big difference, Amen, between people coming on holiday, a Chinese tourist to come and spends money in a British hotel or in a British restaurant, and visits tourist attractions and the liken(?) shops, and then goes back to China, or a Chinese business person who comes to Britain and does a deal to create lots of jobs in Britain and then goes back to China, and immigration. I think they're very different things. Immigration is people who come permanently to live in Britain. Well, I have seen clear as a government that we need to get immigration down. The immigration has fallen by a third in the short period that we've been in office. And one of the things Britain has to do is not to rely on the immigration for its economic success. We need to go and make our own way in the world. And that's what this trip to China is all about.

 

-Yeah. Now you're all right. You are doing very hard work, and we'll talk about that more in a moment. But I'm looking at references, the front page of the Daily Mail today which says Slash Benefits for European Migrants. And this call comes from Boris Johnson amongst other people. And it shows that in the past few years the number of EU migrants without a job, living in Britain, living off benefits has risen to more than 600,000, the equivalent of a city, the size of Glasgow. So my point is, you're right there and you are drumming up jobs, you are drumming up investment for Britain, what to keep, to keep all these people in the job, to get them a job and say: yeah, come from other parts of Europe and we will go and do hard work and get you the job.

 

-Well, no, I don't accept that. Look, we inherited a situation from the Labor government where they signed away all these, treaties which allowed these new countries to join the European Union just for people to come to Britain. There were no controls on the boarders. We have got a grip on that situation, and David Cameron, Theresa May and the whole government  have imposed limits on immigration, brought immigration down by a third, got a real control now. But, of course, these countries got to create jobs in its own right. And that's why we need to trade with the rest of the world and get investment from the rest of the world. On this trip to China just arrange for 16,000 jobs being created in Manchester through a big investment from a Chinese company. I think that is the better direction we've been, that is what our economic plan is about. Britain turning a corner, fixing its own economic problems, making things that the rest of the world wants to buy, and by the way, fixing its welfare system. So that the long-term unemployed don't just have a life on benefits with nothing expected in return. But they are expected to work, or they are expected to get the training they need to get them back into work. So I think our economic plan and our immigration plan, from the sounds(?) there, is very much in accord with what sky views are telling you.

 

-So you will be able to leave China with contracts signed, commitments given and jobs in the bag. 

 

-Yeah, absolutely. Jobs in the bag because we'll get Chinese investment in Britain. And above all, we'll also be making sure that the things that Britain is good at making, aircraft wings, and aero engines, and cars like Jaguar Land Rover,pharmaceuticals, and the luxury brands, and indeed, television and film, for example, Downton Abbey is watched by 160 million people in China which  more than the doubled number of people who live in the whole of UK. All those things are made by British people and British workforces. And that's great and that's all about Britain earning its way in the world, turning a corner after all the problems we've been through over recent years because we've got a clear economic plan that says Britain is gonna make things the rest of the world wants to buy.

 

-And I've been listening to your messages and what you have to say. And without a doubt, you couldn't have been more accommodating to the Chinese people. Do you worry that you come across may be a bit too desperate to please? And do they know it?

 

-No. I think this is a relationship between two great nations, very, very ancient civilizations with long and proud histories. And we are doing businesses together. We are taking the next big step together, Britain and China, to create jobs and investment in China for the Chinese people and jobs and investment in Britain as well. And it's a relationship of equals because we are both people who wanna shape the future of the world and the future of the world economy, both nations wanna do that. And so I think there's a lot of mutual respect.

 

-Yeah. I wonder by China, preconceptions of people may have of China, in previous years, certainly China may have meant high volume, high turnover, low quality and you know, even the Downton figures that you were quoting there, many people that we know live in China, they watch it, well, shall we say, not legitimately via stations and that sort of thing. What about the China of today? What would you say about that?

 

-Well, one of my things I'm trying to do this week is change British perceptions about China, in some of the ways you are describing. You know I think there's a view sometimes that China is a big sweatshop on the banks of the Pearl River, just turning out cheap manufactured goods. But actually the China of today has some of the world's largest internet companies, does some of the most advanced high-tech engineering, develops some of the world's leading medicines. I don't know if you can see it behind me, that I'm standing on the top of an incredibly futuristic building, built, by the way, to the designs of a British architectural practice, right in the middle of Beijing. But this is about the future China. China is changing dramatically even in the last few years. And I think if we in Britain don't understand that, if we don't appreciate that, then we will miss out. And I want us to be part of China's success. I don't see China as a threat to us. I see it as a great opportunity because there are many millions of people who we can sell British goods and services to.

 

-And you are happy the way the week is going so far, Chancellor?

 

-Yeah, it's been a good journey just started yesterday. But I'll go by formal talks with the Chinese government tonight and tomorrow morning. And I'm travelling to these enormous cities in China that I say some of them bigger than many of the cities we have in the UK. I'm going to Shenzhen and Guangzhou to see some of this future China, some of this, China that is part of the modern world economy, of course to see how British companies are making the best of it. And that's what's exciting. You know, the British are really successful here. And also the Chinese, look at the UK, and they see a country that’s getting its act together and they wanna invest in the UK. So from both our countries' points of view, that's a win-win.