BEIJING: Britain’s finance minister told the Chinese premier there are “many opportunities” for closer commercial ties as he started a visit on Friday aimed at developing trade as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union.

British leaders are looking to China for trade and investment as they try to fashion a new global role and offset reduced access to the European common market. Chinese officials believe a post-Brexit Britain needs China more than ever but its companies are uneasy about the future of a market they see as one of Europe’s most welcoming.

Philip Hammond was in Beijing for an annual “economic dialogue” that has taken on added significance this year. He was accompanied by an unusually large delegation of businesspeople and British economic officials for such an event.

Premier Li Keqiang, China’s top economic official, expressed confidence in “steady and sound growth” of Chinese-British relations regardless of what happens between London and the EU.

“We see many opportunities to build on our strong relationship,” said Hammond in the meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, the symbolic seat of China’s government.

Both governments have declared themselves to be in a “Golden Era” of relations. They say they want closer cooperation in finance, clean energy, nuclear power and other fields.

Britain needs to diversify its trade “and China is regarded as a potential replacement for the EU in this regard,” said Wang Zhanpeng, director of the British Studies Center at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

China had hoped Britain would be a partner inside the EU, helping to resist pressure in the bloc to restrict imports, said Wang. But he said the uncertainty of Brexit might hurt Britain’s image as a stable and welcoming market.

“If the impact of Brexit lasts for a long time, it may bring about negative effects on China’s investment and acquisitions in the country,” said Wang.

Total two-way British-Chinese trade in goods last year was $49.1 billion, according to Chinese trade data. Britain ran a deficit of $24.4bn.

Hammond’s delegation includes Gov Mark Carney of the Bank of England, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange and Britain’s secretaries of international trade and business and energy. They are accompanied by executives from banks Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered, engineering firm Arup and British law firms.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017