UK-China Business Council restarts after 8 years of hiatus

China

UK-China Business Council restarts after 8 years of hiatus

2026-01-29 23:29 Last Updated At：01-30 12:04

The UK-China Business Council resumed its work on Thursday in Beijing after an eight-year pause, with more than 60 British companies and 50 Chinese firms sitting down for direct talks on trade, investment and industrial cooperation.

The restart of the business council took place during UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China. "The UK-China Business Council is the business centerpiece of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China. And this is a visit that has historic significance, ladies and gentlemen. It's eight years since a UK Prime Minister last came to China. It's definitely the right time," said Sebastian Wood, chair of the business council.

The China-UK goods trade now rivals the UK's trade with some of its closest traditional partners, and exceeds Britain's trade with many G7 economies.

"In 2025, bilateral trade exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars, up more than 5 percent year on year. Two-way investment also grew steadily, reaching over 30 billion dollars on each side," said Liu Bo, deputy director of the Department of European Affairs at China's Ministry of Commerce.

For some executives, the visit marks not just a normalization of business relations, but signals a deeper commitment from businesses on both sides.

"Eight years ago, we actually came, we were in China to bring our medicines to patients in China. And today we're very proud to announce, we're going to invest 100 billion yuan (about 14.38 billion U.S. dollars) in China over the next 4 years, 5 years until 2030, to continue building our presence in China for research and development, manufacturing, investment across the country," said Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca.

The revival of the UK-China Business Council was welcome news to delegates, even those whose businesses have thrived during the hiatus in council operations.

"I'm very honored to be here. As you know, Airbus knows China and China knows Airbus very well. So, we're ramping up to meet the demand in the market. China is our biggest customer in terms of country, so we are very happy to do business here," said John Harrison, chairman of Airbus.

"Prime Minister Starmer's visit and his meeting with President Xi earlier today mark an important milestone in further deepening the mutually beneficial relationship between the world's second and sixth largest economies. Now our presence here today points to that positive dynamic," said Brendan Nelson, chairman of HSBC.

Former IRGC chief says Iran ready to break U.S. naval blockade by force if talks fail

As the diplomatic engagement between the United States and Iran continues despite a faltering ceasefire, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran is prepared to use military power to break the U.S. maritime blockade should the negotiations collapse or run on too long.

Mohsen Rezaee, who also currently serves as a member of the Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, struck a confident tone about Iran's current trajectory in an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Tehran on Wednesday.

He said the country has withstood over two decades of crippling sanctions and continued to move forward.

"We have been under sanctions for more than 20 years. The number of sanctions likely exceeds 2,000, targeting individuals, enterprises, corporations, ships, insurance companies, and even foreign countries that interacted with us. However, we have managed to find solutions to neutralize these sanctions, and we will continue to do so moving forward," he said.

He said Iran aims to ease the sanctions burden through talks with the U.S., although at the same time, he said, Iran is ready to shift to a military response if the path to a peaceful resolution closes.

"Furthermore, we will compel the U.S. to lift these sanctions. We will force the U.S. to end the maritime blockade -- either through negotiations or, should they resist, through direct action and we will attack U.S. warships. Therefore, despite all the pressures, the future of our economy is bright and promising, while the future of the US economy is bleak," he said.

While any new war against Iran would be a dead end, the best way out for the U.S. is to continue talks, according to the senior official.

"We have prepared ourselves so that if the maritime blockade continues beyond a certain timeframe, we will launch an attack and break the blockade. The Americans have no choice but to negotiate. Continuing this war is a journey into a very dark tunnel for the United States. The more America chooses to fight, the deeper it enters a tunnel with no end. Yet for us, the path is perfectly clear. America is moving toward us in the dark, while we are monitoring their every move," he said.