* Trip is Li's first to UK since taking office
* Trade, business deals are focus
* China keen to put rights row behind it
* UK wants more Chinese investment
By William James and Kylie MacLellan
LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - A $20 billion liquefied naturalgas deal and a move to strengthen London's position in offshoreyuan trading will crown a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang toBritain on Tuesday.
In a trip aimed at burying a row over Tibet and deepeningcommercial ties between the world's second-largest economy andEurope's financial capital, Li met Queen Elizabeth and was dueto hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron.
Li, number two in the ruling Communist party, is expected topreside over up to $30 billion in business deals. Investors willbe looking closely for any signals he may send about the futureof Asia's largest economy.
Oil major BP will sign a deal worth around $20billion to supply China National Offshore Oil Corporation(CNOOC) with liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, BP ChiefExecutive Bob Dudley said at a conference in Moscow.
"It is a 20-year supply agreement on LNG. It is a fair pricefor them and a fair price for us. It is a good bridge betweenthe UK and China in terms of trade," Dudley said.
Also on the table is a deal to make China Construction Bank(CCB), the country's second-largest lender, thefirst clearing service for offshore trading of the Chinesecurrency in London.
London, which dominates the $5-trillion-a-day global foreignexchange market, is seeking to fend off challenges to itsposition as the leading offshore yuan centre in Europe.
As China promotes the use of its currency in internationaltrade, Hong Kong remains by far the largest centre for offshoreyuan deposits. Deposits in Taiwan, Singapore and Macau alsodwarf those in European capitals. New York lags far behind.
Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Industrial andCommercial Bank of China are the clearing banks forall yuan transactions in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively.
FEEDING THE DRAGON?
China, whose $9 trillion economy is over three times thesize of Britain's, wants to use the visit to put differenceswith London over Tibet behind it.
Britain's relations with China took a nosedive in 2012 afterCameron met the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader whoBeijing says is a separatist. Ties have recovered somewhatsince, and Cameron visited China last year.
But tensions remain.
Beijing warned London on the eve of Li's visit not tolecture it on the subject if it wanted good economic ties. And British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Cleggsaid on Monday that the people of China were politicallyshackled to a Communist one-party state.
"We can't ignore the large scale and systematic human rightsabuses which still continue in China to this day," Clegg, wholeads the Liberal Democrat coalition partners of Cameron'sConservatives, told reporters.
China views Britain, the world's sixth largest economy andhome to the only financial capital to rival New York, asEurope's most open place to do business. Its firms are keen toinvest in major nuclear and high-speed rail projects.
In an attempt to attract more of China's big-spendingtourists, Britain's government said it would make itsnotoriously complex visa system easier to navigate. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn; Additionalreporting by Ben Blanchard and Aizhu Chen in Beijing,; SaikatChatterjee in Hong Kong, Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow,; OlegVukmanovic in Milan and Nina Chestney in London; Editing by MarkTrevelyan)
BP (BP.)
