LONDON—China's President Xi Jinping and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said they hoped to build economic ties amid a string of announcements about business deals between the two countries, including plans for a state-owned Chinese company to take a stake in a new nuclear power plant in the U.K.

But the announcements, on the second day of Mr. Xi's first state visit to the U.K., come as some politicians and campaigners in the U.K. and elsewhere have raised concerns about the U.K.'s eagerness to court China.

The centerpiece of the string of deals announced Wednesday was that China General Nuclear Power Corp., or CGN, will take a 33.5% stake in the roughly £ 18 billion Hinkley Point nuclear power plant development in southwest England being built by utility giant Electricite de France SA. In addition to that development, the companies plan to seek approval from U.K. regulators for the Chinese Hualong reactor to be built at Bradwell in Essex in eastern England.

At a meeting Wednesday, the two leaders discussed areas of further cooperation, including trade and investment, among others, Mr. Cameron said at a news conference afterward. He said they also discussed "more difficult issues" such as cyber and human rights. A spokeswoman for Mr. Cameron declined to give further details about the human rights discussions.

Britain has been far less outspoken than the U.S. on contentious issues such as alleged Chinese cyberattacks—though British firms have also been targets. It has also faced criticism from opposition politicians and human-rights groups who say it hasn't been vocal enough about China's human rights record.

The two countries announced Wednesday that they had agreed to a new pact to not support cybertheft of each other's intellectual property. It follows a similar agreement made between the U.S. and China recently.

"The stronger our economic, trading, business and other partnerships, the stronger our relationship and the more able we are to have the necessary and frank discussions about other issues," Mr. Cameron said.

During the news conference, Mr. Xi said China attached great importance to the protection of human rights and had found a path of development in this area that was "suited to China's national conditions."

The two leaders also touched on the issue of Hong Kong during their meeting with a view to discussing the issue further when they meet at the prime minister's country residence Thursday. Mr. Xi also plans to travel to Manchester before leaving the U.K. Friday.

China sees Mr. Xi's visit as a chance to build on efforts made during his U.S. trip last month to showcase the commercial opportunities presented by China's ascendancy, while playing down concerns over its military power, human-rights record and economic outlook. For its part, the U.K. has been assiduously courting the Chinese to invest in infrastructure and other projects in the country and boost trade.

Mr. Cameron also said two leaders had discussed the problem of the global steel oversupply. The British prime minister faces growing pressure at home to support the local steel industry following announcements by some producers of plant closures and job losses, in part blamed on overproduction in China.

"I totally reject the idea you either have a conversation about human rights and steel or you have a strong relationship with China—I want both," Mr. Cameron said.

The Chinese president said the world was facing overcapacity of iron and steel, not just the U.K., and blamed a reduction of demand. He said China's steel industry was also facing excess capacity and had reduced capacity by 700 million tons, "and you can just imagine our task of finding jobs for those workers."

Write to Nicholas Winning at nick.winning@wsj.com and Selina Williams at selina.williams@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2015 21:05 ET (01:05 GMT)