London plays up the pomp for Xi’s visit
Chinese president Xi Jinping is set to address the UK parliament, dine at Buckingham Palace and ride in a royal carriage next week as London rolls out the reddest of red carpets for the Communist party leader. Indeed, so warm are ties that one of the last remaining niggles is a matter of mere protocol: how high to pitch the pre-visit hyperbole.
Beijing and London have been engaged in linguistic ping pong for weeks, batting back and forth ever more florid descriptions of mutual affection, officials organising the visit said.
China started the bidding by calling 2015 a “big year” for ties. UK officials then offered “a golden year”, but by the time David Cameron, the UK prime minister, spoke recently on the phone to his counterpart, Li Keqiang, he had elevated this to “a golden time”, the officials said.
Chinese officials then went into a huddle. They felt that “a golden time” sounded like it might be a description of things past and so suggested “a golden era”. But when Oliver Letwin, a UK member of parliament, gave a speech in late September to honour Chinese national day, he used the phrase “golden decade”.
Whichever description wins through, the intent is clear. Both London and Beijing hope that Mr Xi’s visit will lay foundations for mutual benefit. The UK is seeking Chinese investment for regeneration projects in northern England, including £11.8bn of contracts for the HS2 high speed rail line.
The warmth in UK-China ties stands in contrast to the US’s wary relationship with Beijing, marking a divergence between London and Washington on a big issue for foreign policy. Mr Xi’s trip to the US last month was defined partly by issues such as cyber espionage and strategic competition in the South China Sea.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f27d4e20-7100 ... z3oriBs31k
(Source of my wordplay)
ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)... 
