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
