The relationship is symbolic: Few Britons realize the first Opium War initiated a century of Chinese humiliation

Being among the cheering crowds as President Xi Jinping's cavalcade sped out of Manchester's Albert Square last October as his state visit to the UK concluded, one could not help but believe that a new "golden era" in Sino-British relations had begun.

Less than a year on, that narrative seems a little tarnished. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has decided to review whether to go ahead with the 18 billion pound ($23.5 billion; 21 billion euros) Hinkley Point nuclear power station, one-third of which is to be paid for by China General Nuclear Power.

It was one of the key deals agreed during the visit and in return China was to get the opportunity to build another nuclear power station in Bradwell on the Essex coast.

New to office, May is perfectly entitled to look again at the decision.

Some of the assumptions about energy pricing have altered drastically with the slump in the price of alternatives such as oil and gas since the initial go-ahead was given.

It is surely possible to do this without creating the impression her government will be Sinophobic from now on - in contrast to her predecessor David Cameron and his chancellor of the exchequer, who were architects of a new closer relationship with China.

May is said to have been influenced by her chief of staff Nick Timothy, who also, apparently, wants the UK to have a more distant relationship with the United States.

It is not the first time a closer relationship between the UK and China has been questioned.

Former foreign secretary William Hague also argued the case with Cameron that neither trade nor investment with China was damaged when relations went through a frosty period earlier in the decade.

Cameron, often accused of being merely tactical rather than strategic, did, at least, see - as did his predecessor Tony Blair - the bigger picture with regard to China.

At some point very soon it is going to be the world's largest economy and it is far better to be China's partner than somehow stand against it and the tide.

Niall Ferguson, professor of history at Harvard, made this clear in an interview I did with him when he described the UK's overtures to Xi during his state visit as a "brave and correct" move.

"Anyone who thinks there can be containment against China does not understand the first thing about the realities of the early 21st century," he said.

What many in the UK are unaware of is the symbolism and significance of their country to China.

China's century of humiliation began with its defeat by the British in the first Opium War in 1842, and its people consider their country is now emerging as a great power again with that date as the nadir.

For the British, however, it is just one of many half-remembered colonial conflicts and has no current relevance.

For those who lined the perimeter of Albert Square - many of them Chinese students (of which there are now 50,000 in the UK) - there was a sense of opportunity about a new era of relations between the two countries.

Whatever decision is made about Hinkley when the review concludes in the autumn, the UK government needs to make clear that Sinophobia is not about to replace euroskepticism any time soon.

The author is senior correspondent at China Daily. Contact the writer at

andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 08/12/2016 page12)