Guest Opinion: Greater space for China-UK cooperation

by Xin Ping

Recent time has seen fresh progress in the exchanges between China and the United Kingdom (UK), two of the world's leading economies.

Cooperation platforms are being energized. Having launched the China-UK Economic and Trade Conference, tech forum and clean energy forum in recent months, the two sides reconvened the China Britain Investment and Partnership Forum in Shanghai in December 2024 after a lapse of nine years.

A recent survey published by the British Chamber of Commerce in China on the sentiment of UK businesses operating in China suggests that their investment has remained stable, with 76 percent of the companies surveyed saying they would maintain or increase investment in China.

The new development echoes the words of Lord Peter Mandelson, the Labor veteran appointed as the UK's next ambassador to the United States, who said the UK's earlier estrangement from China was its biggest mistake over the past decade, which was "irrational and unrealistic."

China and the UK have a shared interest in pursuing cooperation. Politicizing cooperation or overstretching the concept of security goes against the basic economics and the development needs of both countries.

Facts and figures show that China-UK trade has stayed at around 100 billion U.S. dollars for several years running, and their financial cooperation has long benefited both sides.

Going forward, new areas of growth beckon in emerging industries. Given their leading position in artificial intelligence (AI), China and the UK can cooperate in technology development and AI governance. It is estimated that about 200,000 Chinese students are currently in the UK, representing significant human and intellectual capital to the two sides.

Also, both China and the UK are at the forefront of green transition, and will enjoy even broader prospects for cooperation as the trend of green development gathers momentum. A telling story is that since 2015, Chinese financial institutions have issued more than 12-billion-dollar worth of green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds through the London Stock Exchange.

The recent upgrading of the China-UK Hydrogen Energy Cooperation Forum to the China-UK Clean Energy Forum is another case in point. As the UK government moves to achieve 100-percent clean power and phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, China's sharing of green expertise can help facilitate the green transition.

The findings of a recent research by the London School of Economics and Political Science analyzing Donald Trump's tariff proposals during the U.S. election campaign show that apart from China, European countries will also be affected to varying degrees. Both Germany and the UK will suffer a dent in their GDP. Any economy that champions open trade and globalization seeks to avoid the pitfalls of trade wars, as the fragmentation of global trade serves no one's interests.

Countries can best protect and develop their interests through cooperation. That is especially true for China and the UK.

Editor's note: The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News Agency, CGTN, Global Times, China Daily, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Xinhua News Agency.