Recently, the Financial Times Chinese website reported that just one week before David Cameron's trade visit to China, the UK Office for National Statistics confirmed that Chinese citizens have become the largest group of immigrants to the UK for the first time. In 2012, 40,000 Chinese people entered the UK, compared to 29,000 in 2010.
China's new leading position in immigration numbers to some extent indicates the success of the UK government, which has been striving to strengthen ties with China. However, critics have urged government officials not to cultivate new diplomatic relations at the expense of traditional friendly ties.
China's rise to the top of the list of immigrants to the UK is partly due to a sharp decline in the number of Indian immigrants, primarily caused by a significant reduction in the number of Indian students coming to the UK to study. Although the number of immigrants from India to the UK ranked first in 2011 and 2010 with 60,000 and 65,000 respectively, this figure fell to 37,000 this year following the UK's tightening of student visas and the UK Home Office's announcement to reduce the number of immigrants from outside the European Union (EU).