According to the Ministry of Commerce's communiqué, the number of new enterprises established by the UK in China last year ranked first in Europe

Source: Global Times-Global Network

According to the "China Foreign Investment Statistical Bulletin 2022" recently released by the Ministry of Commerce, the UK established 612 new enterprises in China in 2021, ranking first among all European countries, and Germany ranked second with 536. Britain and Germany formed the European "first army" in this data and were far ahead of other countries. Cui Hongjian, director of the Institute of European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, said in an interview with the Global Times on the 30th that the mutual demand in the economic and trade fields between China and the UK is very obvious, and the UK has always maintained its enthusiasm for Chinese investment, but there are differences and contradictions in the UK, especially between political circles and business circles.

In 2021, the actual amount of British investment in China was US$1.2 billion, which was only lower than Germany's US$1.68 billion in the same period. The statistical bulletin also shows that by the end of 2021, the UK had set up a total of 11,199 enterprises in China, with a cumulative investment flow of US$27.5 billion, all ranking second in Europe after Germany.

The data shows that China has been a favored investment destination for British businesses in recent years. Data released by China's Ministry of Commerce on November 18 also showed that in the first 10 months of 2022, the amount of British investment in China increased by more than 40% year-on-year, ranking third in the world after South Korea in Asia and Germany in Europe.

The China-Britain Business Association is an economic and trade promotion agency for China jointly supported by the British government and business community, with nearly 1,000 member units. The Global Times reporter inquired on its official website and saw that the association's report on "Key Facts between China and the UK" released on November 25 showed that in September 2022, China was the UK's second largest trading partner, second only to the United States. In the past 2021, China was the UK's sixth largest exporter and the UK's largest source of imports. The number of jobs brought by trade, education and tourism between the two countries reached 114,000 to 129,000.

The association's report also shows that the UK is the most popular investment destination for China in European countries, with Chinese companies investing 51.9 billion euros, or about £44 billion, in the 20 years between 2000 and 2020. In addition, Chinese students are the largest group of foreign students in the UK, contributing £2.1 billion to the UK education sector, accounting for 7% of all its income. In 2019, 880,000 Chinese visitors to the UK reached 880,000, a sevenfold increase from a decade earlier, with these tourists spending £1.7 billion in the UK.

In a separate "Why Export to China" report, the China-Britain Business Council pointed out that access to the Chinese market is becoming easier for British companies, large and small. The Chinese government's extensive policy optimizations and investment reforms have made it easier than ever for UK businesses to do business in China, and British brands can even enter the Chinese market at a lower cost through channels such as cross-border e-commerce.

On November 2, at the 5th China-UK Economic and Trade Forum hosted by the British Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Clubs in the UK, said that it is important for the world and the UK to seize China's development opportunities. "We should not miss the opportunity, but build on what we have."

Both the economic and trade data between China and the UK and the views of the British business community show the attractiveness of China to the British business community as one of the world's most important consumer markets and investment hotspots. The official proclamation of a "golden age" in Sino-British relations dates back to 2015. On September 22 of that year, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne delivered a speech on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, saying that "Britain can become China's best partner in the West" and "we believe that we can create a golden era of UK-China relations in the next few years". In the seven years from the proposal of the "golden age" to the recent unilateral announcement of the "end of the golden age" by the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom and China have maintained stable economic and trade growth. According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, the bilateral trade volume between China and the UK was US$78.518 billion in 2015 and exceeded the US$100 billion mark in 2021, reaching US$112.677 billion. In September 2022, China was the UK's second largest trading partner, according to British data.

On November 28, British Prime Minister Sunak, who had been in office for more than a month, delivered his first foreign policy speech, in which he spoke extensively about China. On the one hand, he declared that "the golden age of Sino-British relations is over" and "China poses an institutional challenge to British values and interests", and at the same time said that "China's importance in international affairs cannot be ignored", that "the language of the Cold War" should not be used, and that Britain should use "strong pragmatism" to deal with competitors such as China. After the British side made some erroneous remarks towards China, the spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the UK pointed out that China insists on bringing opportunities to world development with its own development and has always been a contributor to global development. The root of Britain's predicament today lies in itself, do not blame China for no reason!

Cui Hongjian, director of the Institute of European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times reporter on the 30th that the mutual demand in the economic and trade fields between China and the UK is very obvious, and the UK has always maintained its enthusiasm for investment in China, even if it is affected by some political factors, the momentum of economic and trade growth has been good.

Cui Hongjian said that the British side has always wanted to blur or avoid economic and trade cooperation between China and the UK in its China policy, and overemphasized the institutional or ideological differences between China and the UK, and formed a wrong view that China-UK relations are described as "the more cooperation the more dependent, the more dependent the more dangerous".

"The problem now is that the foundation and potential of China-UK economic and trade cooperation are still there, and the key is that some people in the UK look at the problem from an ideological point of view, and they think that this economic and trade dependence is a dangerous thing." However, Cui Hongjian said that at this point, there are differences and contradictions in the UK, especially between the political and business circles, because the business community pays more attention to tangible interests, and it is more contrary to the political view that it is not from a business perspective, which is not grounded.

Cui Hongjian believes that "the British side's recent remarks on China are on the one hand due to the need for domestic pressure, or the result of the mutual balance of various contradictions and opposing positions in the UK." However, given the current state of the UK economy, it also emphasises the need to be pragmatic. As a result, some views may remain rhetorical and not necessarily translated into specific policies. ”