TONY BLAIR flew to Beijing last night trying to shake off the embarrassment of the trade row with China and prevent it from damaging his message that Europe must embrace global competition.

The Prime Minister took 46 chairmen and the chief executives of leading British companies on his aircraft, headed by Digby Jones, the Director-General of the CBI, in a symbolic push to build business links with China. But pressure from Europe’s southern textile- producing countries for protectionist quotas against Chinese clothing was an uncomfortable reminder of the battles over economic reform within the EU that Mr Blair faces.

Downing Street would not say whether Mr Blair was due to meet Peter Mandelson — his political confidant and Europe’s Trade Commissioner, who has presided over the textile quotas row — during his two days in China.

The Prime Minister went to Beijing in his capacity as EU President for the annual Europe-China summit, which Mr Mandelson and other commissioners will attend.

Officials admitted that the dispute was bound to feature in Mr Blair’s talks with his Chinese hosts. “I suspect in general terms it will come up in our discussions,” his spokesman said. “But detailed negotiations would be a matter for the commission.”

Mr Blair and his wife, Cherie, boarded a chartered aircraft in Edinburgh after spending the night at Balmoral with the Queen. In the past Mrs Blair has been said to have found this annual episode awkward.

Also accompanying the Prime Minister on the flight were a clutch of artistic and sporting celebrities who are to take part in a series of “masterclasses” in Beijing to launch a four-year cultural programme between Britain and China.

Darcey Bussell, the ballerina, Richard Curtis, the writer and film director, Sir Bobby Robson, the former England football manager, and Lord Foster of Thames Bank, the architect, will participate in masterclasses in dance, the arts, sports and architecture.

Mr Blair plans to sign a joint declaration with China on climate change, following up the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July, where world leaders including President Hu failed to agree a deal cutting carbon emmissions but instead agreed to seek new technologies to cut climate change.

The Prime Minister will also attend a signing ceremony for contracts won by Airbus to supply aircraft to Chinese airlines and unveil plans by the University of Nottingham to open a campus at Ningbo near Shanghai in eastern China, making it the first independent foreign university in China.

Asked if Mr Blair would raise with China the twin issues of Tibet and the case of Ching Choeng, a Hong Kong journalist held on spying charges, a Downing Street spokesman replied: “The Chinese Government knows well our position on both issues. I am not going to second-guess whether they will come up.” The spokesman said that the future of the EU’s embargo on arms exports to China was not expected to feature significantly in Mr Blair’s discussions with the Chinese President and Prime Minister.

Britain initially agreed to back moves, led by France, to lift the EU embargo imposed 15 years ago in response to the Tiananmen Square massacre. But the initiative stalled after a furious reaction from the United States. After China, the Prime Minister will spend two days in Delhi for a similar EU-India summit.

While there Mr Blair will sign an air-services agreement to increase the number of flights between Britain and India, and a film-industry deal to make it easier for Bollywood films to be made in Britain and vice versa.

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