Representatives from the cultural and creative industries of the United Kingdom on Thursday expressed their confidence in the Chinese market, and believe British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's ongoing China visit will further boost cultural exchanges and create more opportunities for the two sides.
Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin a four-day official visit, marking the first trip by a British prime minister to China in eight years.
Starmer held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People on Thursday, during which he said the UK aims to build a more "sophisticated relationship" with China. Both sides also expressed willingness to develop a "long-term and stable comprehensive strategic partnership," and agreed to deepen cooperation across various fields.
Later on, Thursday saw the 2026 UK-China Business Council meeting taking place in the Chinese capital, with representatives from dozens of enterprises and institutions from both countries in attendance, spanning sectors such as finance, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and the cultural and creative industries.
Many attendees are part of the sizable delegation accompanying the prime minister during his China trip and they say they have been encouraged by the positive signals sent out during the visit so far.
"I see that being exceptionally positive. It feels to me, and particular from what we've heard from the Prime Minister, that the engagement will continue to be positive," said Shri Mukundagiri, chief operating officer at the Science Museum Group. Kate Varah, executive director of the National Theater, noted the importance of people-to-people exchanges as she recalled the considerable number of Chinese visitors who had attended shows staged by the performing arts group last year. "In one month we had almost one million Chinese audiences, which is more than we saw in London for a whole year in our theaters. So the opportunity for us to engage with a really broad, excited, fresh Chinese audience is thrilling," said Varah.
Meanwhile, Anne Lyden, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, also expressed hope of expanding its collaborations with China and the possibility of holding more arts exhibitions in different locations across the country.
"We collaborated with the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai. I think it was over 450,000 visitors for one exhibition, which is really incredible. And that to us showed us a real interest in the collections that we hold and a desire then for us to share more of our collection with the people of China across different cities," said Lyden.
In 2025, bilateral goods trade between China and the UK reached 103.7 billion U.S. dollars, while total services trade was expected to have exceeded 30 billion U.S. dollars.
UK cultural industry expects Starmer's China trip to boost exchanges, opportunities
