The resumption of high-level exchanges between China and the UK is boosting business confidence, with renewed leadership engagement beginning to unlock opportunities, said Graeme Wallace, managing director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the 11th China-UK Strategic Dialogue with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in Beijing on Tuesday.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China hopes Britain will ensure Chinese enterprises a fair and non-discriminatory business environment, fostering deeper cooperation between the two countries.
Wallace described the mood as "cautious optimism," pointing to resumed dialogue as a sign of momentum in bilateral ties in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).
"If there's a key message for a position paper this year, it's cautious optimism. Essentially, we have spoken about the foreign secretary's visit. We feel this kind of re-engagement of leadership at the highest level has unblocked institutional plumbing. And now that these dialogs are trying to happen again, this is giving business much more confidence. We're starting to see things such as technical dialogs that we feel will start to unlock opportunity, hopefully more investment for companies. So the position paper is really a story of cautious optimism, things trending in the right direction, we feel," said Wallace.
Wallace said he is looking forward to more high‑level exchanges, adding that future talks will shape the next phase of economic engagement.
"We're looking ahead to the JETCO, the joint economic trade commission between MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China) and DBT (Department of Border Trade) in July and then onto, we believe an EFD again, an economic and financial dialog that last year was between He Lifeng and the chancellor into the summer. So, this visit is quite political. There are some business outcomes. For example, I know the foreign secretary discussed corporation relating to healthy aging. So, there are some business dialogs but this visit is quite political and then we're kind of setting the scene for more business-focused engagements in the summer. Both of which will see Chinese ministers and senior leadership go to London," he said.
Renewed China-UK engagement boosts business confidence: business leader
