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written by | dong xinyuhui

an important mechanism between china and the uk will be restarted.

according to xinhua news agency, on the evening of september 18, he lifeng, the chinese chief of the china-uk economic and financial dialogue and vice premier of the state council, spoke by phone with reeves, the british chief of the dialogue and british chancellor of the exchequer, at his request, to exchange views on restarting the china-uk economic and financial dialogue and strengthening economic and trade cooperation.

this is also the first time that he lifeng has made a public appearance as the "chinese lead for the china-uk economic and financial dialogue."

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two key words deserve attention.

first, “restart the dialogue”.

according to the ministry of finance website, the china-uk economic and financial dialogue is one of the three high-level dialogue and cooperation mechanisms between china and the uk (the other two dialogue mechanisms are the strategic dialogue and the high-level people-to-people exchange mechanism), and was formally established in 2008.

in the 16 years since then, china and the uk have held ten dialogues in turn in may 2009, november 2010, september 2011, october 2013, september 2014, september 2015, november 2016, december 2017 and june 2019.

through these dialogues, the two sides negotiated and reached more than 560 mutually beneficial and win-win policy outcomes, including the uk's accession to the asian infrastructure investment bank, the first issuance of chinese sovereign bonds in london, and the launch of the shanghai-london stock connect, which pragmatically promoted cooperation between the two sides in a wide range of economic fields such as trade, investment, finance, energy, industry, and infrastructure.

however, after 2019, the china-uk economic and financial dialogue has not been held until now.

an important change this year is that high-level british delegations have visited china one after another.

on march 20, vice president han zheng met with mayor of the city of london, merrimack, in beijing.

on march 21, wang huning, member of the standing committee of the political bureau of the cpc central committee and chairman of the national committee of the chinese people's political consultative conference, met in beijing with a delegation of british conservative and labour mps who came to china to attend the 12th china-uk political parties dialogue;

on may 15, premier li qiang met with a visiting delegation from the china-britain business council led by chairman of the china-britain business council, michael guptill, at the great hall of the people in beijing.

in july this year, keir starmer, leader of the labour party, became the new british prime minister and formed a government, becoming the sixth prime minister of the united kingdom in eight years. this is also the first time that the labour party has become the ruling party in the united kingdom again after 14 years. in his victory speech, starmer said, "change starts now."

on august 23, president xi jinping spoke with starmer on the phone at his request.

starmer said that the uk hopes to strengthen contacts and dialogues with china at all levels and in all fields and promote positive results in practical cooperation and institutional exchanges between the two countries.

xi jinping pointed out that china attaches great importance to britain's desire to strengthen contact and dialogue, and is willing to maintain exchanges with britain at all levels, promote the steady and long-term development of china-uk relations, and work together to promote world peace and development.

nearly a month later, in a phone call with british chancellor of the exchequer reeves, he lifeng expressed that china is willing to work with the uk to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and restart the china-uk economic and financial dialogue.

second, “strengthen economic and trade cooperation”.

china-uk relations have experienced ups and downs, but overall they have continued to move forward. in the economic and trade fields, the uk is china's third largest trading partner in europe, the second largest investment destination and the third largest source of foreign investment, while china is the uk's largest trading partner in asia.

in 2022, the bilateral trade volume between china and the uk was us$103.3 billion, of which my country's exports to the uk were us$81.5 billion and imports from the uk were us$21.8 billion.

in 2023, the bilateral trade volume between china and the uk was us$97.9 billion, of which my country's exports to the uk were us$77.9 billion and imports from the uk were us$20 billion.

in the first half of 2024, the bilateral trade volume between china and the uk was us$46.77 billion, of which my country's exports to the uk were us$37.24 billion and imports from the uk were us$9.53 billion.

in bilateral trade, service trade performed particularly well.

in 2023, the uk's service exports to china exceeded us$12.6 billion, accounting for one-third of its total exports to china, and service imports reached us$3.8 billion, up 11.7% year-on-year. that year, the uk also served as the guest of honor at the china international fair for trade in services and sent the largest business delegation to the exhibition in recent years.

this is the result of the joint efforts of both sides, and also illustrates the huge complementarity and cooperation potential of the two countries' economies.

china-uk relations are currently at an important juncture, and the business communities of both countries are already exploring new opportunities for cooperation.

in july this year, the china-britain business council and the china chamber of commerce in the uk held a reception for the business community in london. more than 150 british government officials and people from the business, academic and other sectors of the uk and china attended the reception. participants said that china's development achievements are remarkable and its reform measures are exciting, and they will continue to actively participate in and promote mutually beneficial cooperation and friendly exchanges between the two countries.

chinese ambassador to the uk zheng zeguang expressed at the reception that he hoped the business communities of the two countries would take positive actions to build more bridges of communication, create more highlights of cooperation and build a stable and mutually beneficial china-uk relationship.

where is the “highlight”?

in a phone call with british chancellor of the exchequer reeves, he lifeng gave the answer:

“strengthen the alignment of development strategies, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and expand cooperation in finance, green economy, biomedicine, artificial intelligence and other fields.”

the essence of china-uk economic and trade cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win.

developing a stable and mutually beneficial china-uk relationship is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples. it will also help both sides to jointly address global challenges and promote world peace and development.