We did notice at the time and commented on PM Cameron being hosted by President Xi. See – https://chindia-alert.org/2013/12/03/the-banquet-that-wasnt-and-then-a-gift-horse-the-times/
“British officials were finalizing details of Prime Minister David Cameron\’s visit this month to Beijing when they received a last-minute scheduling change: President Xi Jinping would host a banquet in Mr. Cameron\’s honor.
The invitation, which delighted the British officials, effectively scrubbed dinner plans with Mr. Cameron\’s official host, Premier Li Keqiang. And it illustrates an important shift in the Chinese leadership\’s internal dynamics: Mr. Xi is downgrading the premier\’s role and assuming the primary duty of overseeing economic reforms as well as briefing foreign leaders on economic affairs, Communist Party insiders say.
In the frantic diplomatic exchanges over the scheduling dilemma, Premier Li\’s dinner was first postponed, then turned into a lunch, and Mr. Cameron had to cancel a visit to the city of Hangzhou. Previous protocol dictated only a brief meeting with the Chinese president as Mr. Cameron isn\’t head of state.
There is no evidence of discord between Messrs. Xi and Li, the party insiders say. But Mr. Xi is subverting a nearly two-decade-old division of power whereby the president, who is also party chief, handles politics, diplomacy and security, while the premier manages the economy.
Having rapidly established his authority over the party and the military in his first year in power, Mr. Xi is now stepping in on the economy, making him the most individually powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping, the man who launched China\’s economic liberalization in 1978. \”The really big change is that Xi is saying, \’I\’m the boss, and that extends to everything,\’ \” says Barry Naughton, an expert on the Chinese economy at the University of California, San Diego.
Some party insiders welcome the concentration of power in Mr. Xi\’s hands as a way to combat the bureaucratic inertia that some say bogged down reforms under the previous leadership. Others, however, fear that it could lead to impulsive, or misinformed, decision-making. One possible example was China\’s sudden announcement last month of a new air-defense identification zone over the East China Sea without consulting neighboring countries, analysts and diplomats say.
Mr. Xi\’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, played a negligible role in the economy and shared power evenly with Wen Jiabao, the last premier, who was in charge of the massive stimulus plan to respond to the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Before them, President Jiang Zemin left the economy to Premier Zhu Rongji, who pushed through wrenching state-sector reforms and secured China\’s entry to the World Trade Organization.
By contrast, Mr. Xi is depicted as playing a central role in the ambitious economic-reform package approved by the 376-member Central Committee last month. State media published a lengthy official account saying Mr. Xi had personally led the drafting of the plan—the first time a party chief had done so since 2000. The account mentioned Mr. Xi\’s name 34 times. Mr. Li wasn\’t mentioned once.
Drafting of a similar economic plan, unveiled in 2003, was overseen by Premier Wen.
The latest plan calls for a new party body to oversee the reforms. While the group\’s composition hasn\’t yet been chosen, members are likely to report to Mr. Xi, according to several party officials. That will help the president bypass the State Council, or cabinet, which is headed by the premier, party insiders say, and has been a choke point for reform because its many ministries represent different interest groups.”
via Chinese Leader Xi Weakens Role of Beijing’s No. 2 – WSJ.com.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 