The case for continuing economic engagement with China

Over the last couple of months, the CBI has been working hard to address the question of how the UK should balance its growing trade with China with wider competing political and geo-political factors. Given that bilateral trade has increased fifteen times over the last decade, from £6bn in 1999 to £18bn in 2019, and links with China in trade, tourism and higher education support up to 150,000 jobs, the question at hand is not whether the UK trades with China, but how.

The CBI has been working closely with its members, our international sister business federations, and other UK-based business organisations with interests in China to develop a series of principles for doing business with China.

These principles have been shared with MPs on the China Research Group and have the formed the basis of CBI interventions in the UK media.

Getting the China relationship right will be a sig