Chinese President Xi Jinping views models of satellites with Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat, during a visit to the company's headquarters in London on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Britain supports the yuan's inclusion in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of key foreign reserve currencies and backs China's efforts to reach a free-trade pact with the European Union.

China and the UK issued a joint declaration Thursday covering a wide range of issues that aims to build a "global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st Century."

The two sides pledged joint efforts in fields ranging from yuan internationalization and China-EU free trade to cyber security and climate change, according to the declaration released during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Britain.

The document says that Britain's support for the yuan's SDR entry is subject to meeting existing criteria in the IMF's upcoming review.

"Both sides urge members who have yet to ratify the 2010 quota and governance reforms to do so without delay to further enhance the voice of emerging markets and developing countries," the document read.

Zhang Jianping, a research fellow at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Global times on Thursday that UK support is crucial to the yuan's internationalization.

"Just as UK's participation in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has convinced other countries to join the bank, the other economies, especially of developed nations, may follow suit in terms of SDR if Britain leads the way," Zhang said.

China and Britain also called for an immediate joint feasibility study on a China-EU free trade agreement. The study is aimed at meeting the long-term goal reached at the 17th China-EU leaders' summit in June to pave the way for a comprehensive free trade deal.

Xi won a promise from the EU in March 2014, during his Brussels visit, to consider a multi-billion-dollar free-trade deal with China, a long-held goal for Beijing which still divides Europe.

Despite British Prime Minister David Cameron's strong support, some EU members, including Italy and Spain, are concerned that Chinese products may dominate European markets with cheap, subsidized exports, Reuters reported.

"A free trade agreement is no easy task as the EU has many members, and their situations differ. What China could do is start negotiations with specific countries that have such intentions, such as Germany, the UK and Sweden, and wait for the opportunity to expand the deal to the rest of the EU," Li Chunding, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in an opinion article on news portal finance.qq.com.

China and the UK have also agreed to conduct a feasibility study on linking the Shanghai Stock Exchange to the London bourse.

Other items on the declaration include establishing a high-level security dialogue mechanism to strengthen cooperation in combating organized crime and cyber theft. Both sides have agreed not to participate in or support cyber theft of intellectual property or trade secrets to gain a competitive advantage.

The two countries affirmed the need to tackle climate change through international collaboration under the framework of sustainable development. Both sides said that the upcoming 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, from November 30 to December 11, is a critical moment in global efforts to tackle the challenge.

Hectic schedule

Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on Thursday bid farewell to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace.

After the farewell, Xi, joined by the Duke of York, visited Inmarsat, a leading provider of global satellite communication services.

Xi was scheduled to join a Confucius Institute conference hosted by the UCL Institute of Education at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

In the evening, the president was scheduled to meet Cameron at Chequers Court for talks and dinner.

Xi is set travel to Manchester on the penultimate day of his state visit.

Xinhua contributed to this story

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