The China diaries

Al Ansari is heading to Shanghai, and there is much speculation that the DIC will set up a fund to invest purely in Chinese companies. This could be a fund worth over US$2bn. He is giving nothing away though, explaining: "I'll make sure you are first to get the press release."

4pm It's starting to bug me that Al Ansari and his pals are talking about being in Shanghai tonight, whereas my hotel card definitely says Beijing. I run into Istithmar CEO David Jackson below deck, but he isn't much help. "I'm just going wherever the plane is going," he says jokingly.

8.38pm (local time) It is dark and we have landed, and everyone says it is definitely Beijing. I follow the crowd on the upper deck and we get off the plane, straight into a waiting fleet of black Mercedes cars.

Amusingly, one of the UAE business delegation joins us, before realising he is in the wrong town and rushes back onto the plane before it heads off for Shanghai. Half an hour later we are in the spectacular China World Hotel, told to go and relax.

Monday, March 31

6pm It's amazing how long you can spend doing nothing. I have been hard at it for 10 hours. HH has, it is being reported, arrived in Beijing and is holding talks with the Chinese president. Suddenly though, there is a rush of activity and I am told to be in the hotel business centre at 7pm. Could this be the moment?

Tuesday, April 1
China World Hotel

12.45pm I think I have been away for around 48 hours now, and apart from meeting some very rich and very successful people (who have all since disappeared), nothing has happened. I need a lot to happen in a hurry. I'm not about to be disappointed...

1pm Luggage packed and sent off to I don't know where, I get into a convoy of VW 3.0 V6 People Carriers, that makes its way through the streets of Beijing at high speed. It's difficult to see much: Beijing is like Dubai with twice the smog and three times the cranes.

The pace of growth here is nothing short of staggering. We drive past the new Olympic Stadium, built in the shape of an egg basket. It's just two miles north of Ikea in case you want to go there.

1.25pm We arrive at the Tsinghau University - the "Harvard" of China, supposedly the best management and economics school in the country. His Highness will also be here shortly, for a round-table with the students.

2.49pm It's time to go - and this time, we are definitely getting closer to Sheikh Mohammed.

I can see in front of me a convoy of around 50 cars, and a police escort in front and behind us. We head at over 160km/h down the main highways of Beijing towards the Great Wall of China. It is a surreal journey - every other road has been cordoned off, every traffic light we pass has been turned to green.

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