Miliband bids to improve China ties
Foreign Secretary David Miliband is meeting with Chinese counterparts this week
Monday March 15 2010
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband will try to reduce tensions with China as the two sides meet this week for talks.
Bilateral relations were strained recently over climate change talks and Beijing's execution of a British drug smuggler who was said to be mentally ill.
Mr Miliband is to visit a training base for Chinese UN peacekeepers on Monday, then meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday.
He is to deliver a talk at Beijing's Foreign Affairs University before leaving on Wednesday.
Ties reached a low last December when China ignored appeals from Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to execute 53-year-old Akmal Shaikh for drug smuggling.
Shaikh's family said he was mentally unstable.
