Brown looks to China to drive UK''s recovery.

(Embargo to 0001GMT Monday, November 23)

LONDON, Nov 22 (KUNA) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was Monday

setting out his hope that investment from China can drive the economic

recovery in Britain. The Prime Minister was saying he wants to see "thousands" of Chinese firms

working in the UK, rather than the current level of around 400. In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) annual

conference, Brown was also announcing he was hosting an international

investment conference in London early next year as part of efforts to attract

new money. "Today we have over 400 Chinese companies now operating in Britain," Brown

was saying, according to extracts of his address released officially. "In our new growth strategy, I want not just hundreds but thousands of

Chinese companies in Britain and British companies in China. "I know that we will soon sign new strategic partnerships with India. Trade

relations with the US are strong. "So we need an outward-facing Britain, attracting inward investment and

sustaining high value added jobs."

Brown was to reiterate that "going for growth" is the best way of tackling

huge public debt from the credit crunch and recession, rather than the

Conservative approach of immediate spending cuts. "Choking off recovery by turning off the life support for our economies

prematurely would be fatal to British jobs, British growth and British

prosperity for years," he was warning. "So that's why we will continue with our current plans to support our

economy until the private sector recovery is established, and we will ensure

that nothing we do will jeopardise that recovery. "Our strategy has to be to go for growth, now and in the long term,

supporting the economy while ensuring sustainable public finances."

Brown was also insisting that European growth is essential to the UK's

domestic prospects.

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