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"Britain was in the diplomatic doghouse... after the British prime minister met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader", reports Martin Patience from Bejing
David Cameron has promised to create a "partnership for growth and reform" as he visits China on a trade mission with more than 100 UK business leaders.
The prime minister also pledged to put his "full political weight" behind a proposed agreement to free up trading between China and the European Union.
He is due to hold talks with premier Li Keqiang on a separate China-UK deal said to be worth £1.8bn a year.
Some EU states fear a flood of cheap imports if a wider pact is approved.
However, the European Commission is due to begin investment treaty negotiations in the New Year.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband is to warn the government not to compete with China in a "race to the bottom" on pay, but to focus on creating a "high-skill, high-tech, high-wage" economy.
'Uniquely placed'"Start Quote
End QuoteMr Cameron's promise now to 'respect' and 'understand' China is the price he has had to pay to thaw what was a diplomatic deep freeze "
Writing in Chinese magazine Caixin, Mr Cameron declared his ambition to use this week's visit to help forge "a partnership for growth and reform that can help to deliver the Chinese dream and long-term prosperity for Britain too".
He welcomed signals from last month's third plenum of the ruling Communist Party that China wanted to open up more under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who took up office a year ago.
Mr Cameron said he wanted to show that "an open Britain is the ideal partner for an opening China".
He added: "Britain is uniquely placed to make the case for deepening the European Union's trade and investment relationship with China.
"Start Quote
End Quote David CameronMy visit to China can plant the seeds of a long-term relationship which will benefit China, Britain and the world for generations to come"
"Building on the recent launch of EU-China negotiations on investment, and on China's continued commitment to economic reform, I now want to set a new long-term goal of an ambitious and comprehensive EU-China free trade agreement.
"And as I have on the EU-US deal, so I will put my full political weight behind such a deal which could be worth tens of billions of dollars every year."
Mr Cameron believes that eliminating tariffs in the 20 sectors where they are highest, such as vehicles, pharmaceuticals and electrical goods, could save UK exporters £600m a year.
During the first day of his second trip to China as prime minister, he is scheduled to attend the official opening of a new academy in Beijing for training technicians, salesmen and service staff for Jaguar Land Rover, which is signing a £4.5bn agreement to provide 100,000 cars to the National Sales Company over the next year.
'Honest dialogue'JLR chief executive Ralf Speth is among the 120-strong business delegation accompanying Mr Cameron, along with executives from major exporters like Rolls-Royce, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Barclays, HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline, Arup and Virgin.
But figures from smaller businesses, such as Westaway Sausages of Devon, Moulton bicycles and the Cambridge Satchel Company, make up the bulk of the party.
"Start Quote
End Quote Labour leader Ed MilibandThe only way we can compete with China - and the only way Britain can win - is by winning a race to the top"
Mr Cameron said: "I hope that by advancing and extending our bilateral trade, by working together on the global issues that affect us all and by maintaining an honest and open dialogue, my visit to China can plant the seeds of a long-term relationship which will benefit China, Britain and the world for generations to come."
The visit represents a warming of relations after a dispute over the prime minister's decision to meet the Dalai Lama in May.
And it comes six weeks after Chancellor George Osborne led a business delegation to China.
In a speech on Monday, Labour leader Ed Miliband will tell staff at the VW National Training Centre in Milton Keynes: "The only way we can compete with China - and the only way Britain can win - is by winning a race to the top.
"A race to the top where we compete on the basis of high-skill, high-tech, high-wage economy - encouraging small businesses who want to grow, helping young people like you who want to get on and businesses like these which want to train, backing the real wealth creators in our country.
"But this government seems to believe that the way we compete is exactly that race to the bottom. They think that for the majority, insecurity, low pay and squeezed wages are simply an immutable fact of life, the only way we can compete."
Mr Osborne's Autumn Statement, which sets out the UK government's tax and spending proposals, has been put back 24 hours to accommodate Mr Cameron's trip, and will take place this Thursday, instead of Wednesday.
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