China, UK must encourage mutual openness to investment, jointly combat climate change

In the context of the damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the changes brought about by Britain’s exit from the European Union and the deterioration in global trade and economic productivity, it is important for the United Kingdom and China to return to business as usual.

My predecessor as chancellor of the exchequer of the United Kingdom, George Osborne, ensured that the Treasury was effectively running the UK-China policy during his tenure. 

It was an approach that slightly grated on me when I became foreign secretary in 2014. But it was one that I was only too happy to endorse two years later, picking up the baton from Osborne and continuing, I hope, to deepen the reinvigorated relationship that he had started.

The UK-China trade relationship does not, of course, exist in a vacuum, and the background noise to that relationship over the last three years has been challenging. 

But facts remain facts. China is the world’s second-largest economy, as well as the UK’s sixth-largest export market and its fourth-largest trade partner overall.

Here is another fact: Many of our global partners have been quietly increasing their share of trade with China while we have seen ours stagnate over the pandemic period. 

So it is time now to roll our sleeves up and get that market share climbing as business returns to normal.

Those of us who are committed to strengthening UK-China trade understand that two countries with such different histories, cultures, political systems and aspirations are bound to have differences, sometimes major differences of view. 

But we also share common interests in free trade, promoting an interconnected global trading system, securing our vital shipping routes and ensuring our energy supplies.

Political differences have never been and must not become an impediment to Britain’s strength. The UK’s history is one of trade-led diplomacy — a trade-first approach. 

We are, after all, the nation that sold boots to the Napoleonic armies while we were fighting them and ultimately defeating them. 

And, quite honestly, if we only trade with people with whom we have no political differences, we can close half our ports tomorrow.

While we are very much focused on trade and investment, it is not only about economics. As we begin to address the challenge of climate change, China will be our indispensable partner in the battle against global warming, a battle that cannot be won without China’s wholehearted commitment. 

So let us recognize honestly and openly that there are political differences between our two nations. And then let us redouble our commitment to growing our bilateral trade and investment, working together to address climate change and energy security, and building our people-to-people contacts to increase mutual understanding of our very different cultures.

The basis of all sustainable trade is, of course, mutual benefit. China’s entry into the global economy four decades ago had a beneficial effect on the living standards of ordinary people across the developed world, including in the UK. 

Foreign direct investment in China, including from the UK, helped China deliver a growth miracle that in turn has fueled an unparalleled noninflationary boom in consumption in the developed world.

Today, British companies seek opportunities in China’s gradual opening of its financial services sector to foreign capital and knowhow. 

China’s middle-income group has resumed its meteoric expansion, creating sustained growth in demand for imported high-end consumer products and retail financial services. 

British businesses must seek out and fulfill that demand and seize those opportunities.

Post-Brexit Britain has not yet set out its plan for the future and has not yet articulated how it will earn its living and maintain its prosperity. 

But I do know this: There is no credible plan for a prosperous future for a trading nation the size of the UK that involves turning its back on the world’s second-largest economy.

Let us focus not on what divides us but on what unites us — making the case for free and fair trade, encouraging mutual openness to investment, and working together to combat climate change. 

Let us commit again so that UK-China trade will flourish in the post-Brexit era, and also reconnect to the openness, fairness and stability that have attracted so many foreign investors in the past — Chinese and others — to our shores.

The author is former chancellor of the exchequer of the United Kingdom. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.