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British Business (China)

I agree. At the same time that that city has been built, we have had the Thames Gateway proposals. I am at the edge of that at Sittingbourne and Sheppey, but I can tell hon. Members that we will have still have the Thames Gateway in another 20 years and not much will have moved. A fundamental shift in thinking is required and China is leading the way, although it has borrowed, largely from Singapore. There are models out there that we can use, but for some reason we are becoming more isolationist in our thinking, which, in a global environment, unnerves me. Those 80 new cities built over the next 10 years will, with a combined population of 400 million, have twice the population of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. We have to get our minds round the staggering economic change that is going to happen in China. There were many highlights to the visit, but I should like to pay tribute to my favourite architect, I. M. Pei. We were privileged to see his new, beautifully designed, elegant, sensitive museum in Suzhou. He has done that while finishing the new cultural museum in Doha. I do not know where he finds the time: he is only 91. I sense that the museum in Suzhou will be his last ever commission. It was wonderful to meet his daughter and to spend time walking round the building. As somebody who loves architecture, I would not have missed it. I want the Minister—although he may not be able to say anything about it now—to galvanise his Department to go to No. 10 and create a China council.