A British business leader hailed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's just-concluded official visit to China as a distinct ice-breaking mission, calling on the UK and China to embrace each other in business.
Jack Perry Junior, chairman of the London-based 48 Group, said Starmer's visit to China from January 28 to 31, the first by a British prime minister in eight years, came after other European leaders had made trips of their own to China in recent weeks, showing great willingness to cooperate.
"You can see European leaders going to China one after the other. What does that mean? The opportunity is in China. The opportunity for China is in Europe. And we're embracing it and we're saying we want to work," he said.
"More VC capital is going into the UK and AI companies than anywhere else in Europe. China is a leader in technology. You look at what is coming from energy, quantum, AI, robotics. The UK can play with China in the biggest form of business," he said.
This ice-breaking spirit, Perry emphasized, is a direct legacy of his forebears who first bridged the divide and opened the door to cooperation with China.
"For me, Keir Starmer, our prime minister, going to China, with President Xi Jinping, shows one thing and one thing only, ice-breaking spirit. And at the 48 Group we support that and any business in the UK, we showcase that you can do something and it's possible," he said.
In 1954, Jack Perry Junior's grandfather Jack Perry Senior, founder of the London Export Corporation, led a group of 48 British businessmen on a historic trade mission to Beijing and helped deliver one of the first modern-day trade links with China, effectively breaking the U.S.-led Western embargo on the newly founded Asian country. The 48 men were the precursors of the 48 Group Club. The trip became known as the "Icebreaking Mission," and the club members were called "icebreakers."
UK should work with China to embrace opportunities: British business leader
Collaboration between private firms and academic researchers in China has accelerated integration of scientific research and industrial innovation, addressing the country's supply bottlenecks in the development of new materials of carbon fiber.
High-performance carbon fiber, also known as the "king of new materials," is a core material for advanced manufacturing and national defense.
In Langfang City of north China's Hebei Province, T-1100-grade carbon fiber is now in stable mass production. Daily testing shows a 95-percent pass rate.
The new material was developed in a lab at the Shenzhen University in south China's tech hub of Shenzhen City.
"This is the T-1100-grade carbon fiber we developed. Its tensile strength reaches 7,000 megapascals," said Zhu Caizhen, a professor from the College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, the Shenzhen University.
The filament is only five micrometers wide. Its density is one-quarter that of steel, but its strength is about seven times higher. With high strength and low weight, and resistance to heat, cold, corrosion, and wear, carbon fiber is widely used in defense, aerospace, railway, and the low-altitude economy.
To secure stable output, the Shenzhen University has worked closely with Changsheng Technology, a private company in Hebei Province.
Since 2023, their partnership has produced a new breakthrough every three to four months.
"Relying on oneself would take a much longer time. The university's research helps guide us and solve key technical problems," said Li Penghui, deputy director of the Research and Development Department, Changsheng Technology.
The team at the Shenzhen University ran repeated tests, examining hundreds of factors to reduce internal voids and increase fiber density. Lab results were soon scaled up and tested under real manufacturing conditions.
After more than 30 rounds of lab-to-factory iteration, the partners successfully cut the key performance-limiting defect and achieved mass production. It has reduced China's reliance on imports and contributed to strengthening the security of strategic materials for China.
China achieves unprecedented synergy in carbon fiber development by bridging lab, factory
