Chinese president Xi Jinping’s first official visit to the UK this week brought with it a number of investments.
The UK has already attracted £24bn of investment since 2005 – more than twice that put into Italy, ranked number two. France and Switzerland, with £10bn and £9bn, are next in line.
But the UK government is hoping that what has gone before could be a mere drop in the ocean if China really turns on the taps.
The flow started this week as Chinese investment group SinoFortone announced plans to invest more than £2bn in Orthios Eco Parks to develop waste power and food stations, initially at Holyhead and Port Talbot in Wales.
The company also said it would invest in developing an amusement park in Ebbsfleet, Kent.
The two power plants in Wales will be developed over the next three years, after which the technology will be rolled out to China and developing countries.
The modular plants take waste heat from power stations that will be used to warm water for king prawn farming. The UK currently imports king prawns.
Other types of seafood, such as Dover Sole, will follow while the process can also be used to help grow vegetables.
The system is also designed to capture carbon dioxide emissions and is expected to create 1,000 jobs.
The other announcement was £100m in funding for the amusement park, London Paramount Entertainment Resort, which is planned to open in 2021.
A government decision on planning permission for the tourist attraction, which will be near Dartford, is expected late in 2017.
Should the development go-ahead, it will be built on 900-acre brownfield site, include a host of theme park rides based on popular television programmes and Hollywood films, as well as a theatre, water park, hotels and nightclubs. The project will create up to 27,000 jobs.
Other pending announcements include those by two Chinese state-backed companies who are expected to take stakes in the £24.5bn Hinkley Point power station project.
Deals are likely to extend well beyond nuclear power, however, with Chinese officials hinting ahead of the trip that a host of agreements spanning a range of industries are likely to be confirmed during the four-day visit
China is the world’s second-biggest economy and David Cameron believes it is a key source of investment. Chancellor George Osborne used a visit to the East last month to encourage Chinese firms to bid for £11.8bn of High Speed 2 contracts.