Revealed: How British embassies help Alex Salmond around the world He had to make do with a reply from a civil servant in the German ministry of economics and technology. To add insult to injury, the official made sure the British Embassy in Berlin received a copy of the correspondence. David Mundell, a Scotland Office Minister, said last night the dossier shows how Scotland benefits internationally from the strength of the United Kingdom and warned a separate country could not hope to replicate the same network of connections. He said: "What the British Embassy is able to do is organise meetings that Mr Salmond would not otherwise get. We're quite happy to do that for the benefit of Scotland. But what we're not happy about it to have that portrayed as if it's all his own work - it's not. The problem is Mr Salmond doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of the UK Government and pretends it's all being done by a separate state. Douglas Alexander, the former International Development Secretary and Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: "As this story makes clear, there are real benefits, even for the First Minister, in being able to rely on the United Kingdom's diplomatic network across the globe." The dossier shows the British Embassy started work on the First Minister's trip five months beforehand, in July last year. However, the serious lobbying began in October, with requests for meetings with Li Keqiang, the Vice Premier, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Health. Sebastian Wood, the British Ambassador to China, wrote: "I would be extremely grateful if the Ministry for Foreign Affairs could facilitate a formal letter of invitation to the First Minister and his delegation. Work is still continuing on finalising Mr Salmond's visit programme and your help in securing meetings with Vice Premier Li Keqiang and the relevant Government ministers would be very much appreciated. A flurry of correspondence from the embassy to individual Chinese government departments followed proposing times and dates for talks with specific ministers. In many cases, they also provided Mr Salmond's CV and picture. They arranged letters of invitation for the First Minister's delegation, Chinese visas and "VIP facilities" at six airports and train stations he was using. The embassy also organised for a BBC camera crew to follow Mr Salmond during his trip as he was "particularly anxious" that Scottish TV viewers watch the footage. In addition, officials helped arrange the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Scotland and China that was much trumpeted by the First Minister. However, Mr Salmond did not receive the same welcome when he wrote to Chancellor Merkel in June last year, shortly after her decision to phase out nuclear power in Germany in favour of renewable power. He asked for talks but received a letter from Peter Hintze, parliamentary state secretary at the Ministry of Economics and Technology, stating Germany is particularly interested in working with the UK to achieve its green energy goals.