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Bringing business together to celebrate the unshakeable UK-China relationship

Max Dodd Digital Content Editor

Now in its sixth year, the CBI’s Chinese New Year’s Dinner brought together 200 senior professionals from business, politics and media to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the long-standing bond between the UK and China.

04 Feb 2020, 2 min read

Taking place at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge, this year’s Chinese New Year Dinner brought in the Year of the Rat and   highlighted the crucial collaboration between the UK and China, as well as touching on technology, education and the recent pledges from the Prime Minister. An array of speakers included former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the UK H.E. Liu Xiaoming, and CBI President, John Allan.

Opening the evening, John Allan heralded the multiple causes of optimism, praising the strong mandate of the new majority government ─ which gives business the chance to break through the gridlock of recent years. He moved on to highlight the immense growth in trade – 2019 proving to be a landmark year in which trade between the UK and China passed £100bn. He closed with a look to the future, in which both nations can harness their resources and assist one another in the task to reach net-zero.

Victor Zhang, Vice President for Huawei Technologies, continued proceedings, speaking on the key driver technology progression:

“Now the language of technology forms a part of everyone’s lives – artificial intelligence, Cloud computing, the internet of things, and of course, 5G. These new technologies will bring huge changes and benefits to the world in education, healthcare, environmental sustainability and many more fields.

“For us in this room, these are also no longer just concepts – they are reality. But what will make these new services possible? The answer is simple: Super-fast connectivity. And connectivity is at the heart of our contribution at Huawei.”

In an intriguing speech, H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming used the CBI initials to spell out his vision for 2020: the ‘C’ standing for comprehensive, ‘B’, for BRI (The Belt Road Initiative), and ‘I’ for innovation.

The speakers’ sessions concluded with a  positive message from Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said: “I am confident that, as long as the business communities of our two countries work together and work hard, we will write a new chapter of China-UK business cooperation, and contribute more “golden fruits” to the China-UK “Golden Era”!”

Happy Year of the Rat.