Skip to main content
  • The CBI chevron_right
  • UK-China trade: what this growing relationship can do for business

UK-China trade: what this growing relationship can do for business

International Trade conference: hear from industry leaders and the CBI’s chief representative to China about the challenges and opportunities in trading with China going forward.

15 Oct 2020, 3 min read

CBI Chief Representative to China, Guy Dru Drury is joined by business leaders and senior government officials as they discuss new ways for the UK to engage with China and a pragmatic approach to the challenges and opportunities that the market presents.

Speakers 

  • Guy Dru Drury, China Chief Representative, CBI 
  • Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Chairman, China-Britain Business Council 
  • Joe Hawley, Consul-General, Guangzhou and South China
  • Patrick Horgan, Director for Global Government Relations, Rolls-Royce 

Watch the session

Highlights from the session:

  • Speakers discuss how the UK and the rest of the world are waking up to the reality of a rising China, and the ‘Golden Era’ that existed only a few months ago has transformed into a new phase of UK-China relations  
  • After the UK leaves the European Union, China will be the UK’s third largest trading partner, and the one with the biggest upside
  • Speakers add that the UK needs to work with other like-minded countries to push China to level the playing field for British businesses operating in the Chinese market
  • UK-China trade relations are growing, the relationship topped £100bn for the first-time last year, and outside of trade, China is becoming an important partner to the UK in addressing wider issues, such as the global climate challenge
  • There are of course areas where the UK and China do not agree, but business needs to focus on the areas where both countries can work together practically 
  • While intellectual property used to be a key challenge to British companies trading in China, the Chinese government and Chinese companies themselves now have a vested interest in improving the country’s IP regime, and it has come on leaps and bounds in recent years
  • Hong Kong remains a key ‘gateway to China’, and despite the changing political situation on the ground, for many businesses, it is business as usual. Hong Kong continues to apply British rule of law, English is a key business language, and the emergence of the Greater Bay Area is only increasing Hong Kong’s role in UK-China trade
  • Speakers concluded that the UK should not cut itself off from China now and while it will take great political skill to get this relationship right, it is worth doing so.