After a 6-year pause, China and the United Kingdom resume economic dialogue

Taipei, Taiwan, China and Britain resumed economic and financial talks on Saturday after a six-year hiatus on a visit by British Treasury Secretary Rachel Reeves to Beijing, as the UK Labor government seeks to reset tense ties. relations with the second largest economy in the world and its fourth largest trading partner.

Amid Conservative Party criticism of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s trip to China amid turmoil in financial markets in her country, London hopes the resumption of talks will help remove the barriers UK businesses face in seeking export or expand to China.

The deals reached with China on Saturday are worth 600 million pounds ($732 million) over the next five years to the British economy, including commitments to deepen trade in financial services and expand agri-food exports, Reeves said. , who will visit Shanghai on Sunday.

They demand more operations in yuan from Europe

Participating on behalf of the British delegation were the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, the executive directors of the Financial Authority of the United Kingdom and the London Stock Exchange Group, as well as senior executives from some of the largest service companies. Britain’s financial leaders, including the group chairmen of HSBC and Standard Chartered, who met with their Chinese counterparts, led by Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng.

He urged British financial companies to expand yuan services and promote greater internationalization of the Chinese currency, while inviting them to participate in green finance and the pension sector in China.

His visit follows the dialogue opened last year between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping, the first between the leaders of both countries since 2018.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on all imports could complicate Starmer’s goal of rebuilding relations with China.

China is the United Kingdom’s fourth largest trading partner, with trade of almost 113 billion pounds ($138 billion).