UK allies baffled by red carpet treatment for Xi George Osborne, the chancellor, announced last month that he wanted to “take a risk” with Britain’s relationship with China

UK allies baffled by red carpet treatment for Xi George Osborne, the chancellor, announced last month that he wanted to “take a risk” with Britain’s relationship with China. As Xi Jinping, Chinese president, heads for London at the start of a lavish four-day state visit, the extent of that risk will come under the international spotlight

In what is being seen in other western capitals as an unprecedented kowtow, almost every aspect of the British state will be thrown open to Mr Xi: Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, Chequers, the Palace of Westminster — even the country’s critical infrastructure, including nuclear power

Britain’s traditional allies regard this behaviour as bizarre at best and craven and dangerous at worst, while old China hands at the Foreign Office are in despair

“We will just have to hold our noses,” said one grandee as he contemplated a week in which Mr Xi will be feted in London and Manchester

A senior adviser to US policymakers described the UK as “the only place where China is truly influential right now, because they are so desperate for Chinese investment”

One senior western intelligence officer said: “The most charitable spin we can put on the current China policy of the British government is to say it is a pure mercantilist, unprincipled, self-serving decision aimed at attracting short-term investment. The big question is whether it actually works.”

Mr Osborne and David Cameron, prime minister, see China as a big potential source of investment for Britain’s creaking infrastructure and for help in funding the transformation of northern England, particularly Manchester, into a second global hub alongside London

Mr Osborne dreams of London becoming an offshore centre for Chinese finance, and views Beijing’s switch to consumer-led growth as a vast opportunity for UK services industries

Explaining his motives to the Financial Times during a trip on a train in Xinjiang, where Uighurs say they suffer oppression, Mr Osborne said: “I wanted to take a bit of a risk with the China relationship. I wanted to push it so it really brings jobs and growth.”

One of the biggest frustrations for western governments revolves around Britain’s decision to avoid any mention of the Communist Party’s human rights record

In the past, the UK was one of the toughest in publicly criticising human rights abuses. But Mr Osborne engineered a new approach in 2012 after Mr Cameron followed Foreign Office advice and met the Dalai Lama in London, triggering a freeze in political relations

Some have argued that Britain’s commercial relations with China were not affected by this diplomatic chill, but Mr Osborne and Mr Cameron drew the opposite lesson. They are set on removing all obstacles to what they hope will be a “golden decade” in relations between the two countries, making Britain China’s “number one partner”

Steve Tsang, a China expert at Nottingham University, said: “In the longer term, Osborne’s approach will be counter-productive. He will not persuade the Chinese government to respect the UK or the British government more

“By telling his Chinese host that the UK will do practically anything to persuade the Chinese to accept the UK as their best friend, the Chinese government would have to be constituted by idiots not to ask for more and more. And the Chinese government is run by very able, hard-nosed and astute political players.” “

Another source of bafflement among many of Britain’s traditional allies is the timing of this new policy, coming just as China’s economic might is looking more brittle than it has in decades. They also point to the apparent lack of concrete benefits that have so far come from London’s new approach in dealing with China’s authoritarian leaders. China is the biggest trade partner for 67 countries, but the UK is not one of them

In 2014, mainland China was Britain’s sixth-largest export market, just ahead of Belgium and Luxembourg but well behind allies such as the US, France and Germany, which have been upset by London’s policy towards China. 2014

Mr Osborne knows the UK’s courting of China is infuriating western allies including Washington, but that is

part of the strategy. Beijing notes with approval Britain’s willingness to make a strategic pivot to Asia. It is clearly a risk, but the chancellor believes he will be vindicated