It's Wales@Westminster weblog, BBC Wales' Parliamentary correspondent David Cornock's diary on political life. It's a two-way process though, so add your comments too.
Tuesday 30 March
The Beijing Connection
posted by David | 1710 BST |
Peter Hain will next week become the first Welsh Minister to visit China.
The Secretary of State for Wales will spend a week visiting Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
Mr Hain sees great potential for Welsh business in forging closer links with the rapidly growing Chinese economy.
He's fixed up meetings with senior figures from the Chinese Government and hopes the trip will open doors for Welsh companies.
It isn't Mr Hain's first visit to China.
Almost a quarter of a century ago he was there in his role as a trade union researcher.
That trip proved useful when the Neath MP turned his hand to thriller writing.
The Peking Connection was published in 1995 and is still available - its ranks 763,117 on the amazon.co.uk sales.
Here's the blurb to whet your appetite: "What is the link between the mysterious old man from the Chinese Central Committee and Swanepoel, the superannuated BOSS agent living in a suburb in Harare? Jim Evans, an ordinary British scientist, accidentally stumbles across a network of international intrigue while on a delegation to China."
Mr Hain's fiction debut didn't meet universal praise, but his fans will be disappointed to hear that he won't be using this latest visit for research into a sequel.
He tells me he's got no plans for a second book - and points out that the title of his first novel would have to be updated to The Beijing Connection should it be reprinted.
763,117.
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