Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon recently visited with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua in Beijing to bolster support for trade and educational partnerships between the two countries. 

In addition to several positive statements about trade between the two countries, she also announced new agreements between Scottish and Chinese universities in finance, energy, and computer games.

She also met with a group of Scottish students living, studying, and working in China and pledged over one million dollars in investment for other students to follow a similar trajectory. The funding will go directly toward the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools (CISS) Scholarship Program.

According to an article on BBC.com, she said, "There are clearly enormous opportunities for Scottish firms to do business in China. Sectors including energy, research and innovation and life-sciences all offer significant potential for growth, and I will be working to strengthen relationships in these areas throughout this week.

"Our China strategy is underpinned by promoting equality and a respect for human rights, social values and the rule of law. This is a key part of our relationship. We discussed those subjects today, and also inclusive economic growth, women's rights and children's rights - the last of which I look forward to exploring more in my UNICEF speech tomorrow."

Ms. Sturgeon fully supports the partnership and wants to ensure the fair treatment of all those involved.

According to the BBC, Naomi McAuliffe of Amnesty International Scotland said of Ms. Sturgeon's visit, "[It is important to have] proper background checks to make sure that the Scottish government is not implicated or involved in any human rights abuses that are taking place."

Learn more about studying in Scotland and China.