Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron told journalists in China that British schools should teach Mandarin instead of French and German. He plans to double the number of students studying Chinese in British schools to 400,000 by 2016. He will also give money to schools that start teaching Mandarin. Stronger educational ties with China are necessary to keep Britain competitive in China. He said: "I want Britain linked up to the world's fast-growing economies, and that includes our young people learning the languages to seal tomorrow's business deals."

Mr Cameron explained the importance of Mandarin. He said: "By the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world's largest economy, so it's time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin." The British Council and the Chinese office for teaching Mandarin as a foreign language agreed to double the number of Chinese language assistants in the UK. The British Council puts Mandarin in the top five most important languages for British children to study to help their future job hunting.