DHAKA: David Cameron has promised to create a ‘partnership for growth and reform’ as he visits China on a trade mission with more than 100 UK business leaders.

The prime minister also pledged to put his ‘full political weight’ behind a proposed agreement to free up trading between China and the European Union.

He is due to hold talks with premier Li Keqiang on a separate China-UK deal said to be worth £1.8bn a year, reports the BBC.

Some EU states fear a flood of cheap imports if a wider pact is approved.

However, the European Commission is due to begin investment treaty negotiations in the New Year.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband is to warn the government not to compete with China in a ‘race to the bottom’ on pay, but to focus on creating a ‘high-skill, high-tech, high-wage’ economy.

BDST: 1527 HRS, DEC 02, 2013