China-Britain economic cooperation has great potential: ambassador

Sebastian Wood, British ambassador to China, gives an exclusive interview to Xinhuanet in Beijing, July 1, 2014. (Xinhuanet Photo/Guo Xiaotian)

China-Britain economic cooperation has made great progress and still has great potential for development, British Ambassador to China Sir Sebastian Wood said during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet on Tuesday.

He said the recent meetings between the prime ministers of China and Britain has helped a lot in promoting the major bilateral cooperation.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to Britain in June and achieved great results. Trade and investment deals worth over 30 billion U.S. dollars have been signed between Chinese and British firms in such areas as finance, technology, education, energy and infrastructure.

The Chinese premier also proposed that China and Britain to expand two-way trade to a target of 100 billion dollars by 2015.

For China, Britain is a great place for investment, he said. "Over the last two or three years, Chinese investors started to come to the UK, and made big investments. So within the space of 18 months, we have seen as much investment from China as we had in the previous 30 years, that is an incredible acceleration," the ambassador added.

Many Chinese businessmen believe Britain is one of the most open western economies with "transparent, predicable, reliable investment environment", and therefore have created an explosive growth in their investment, he added.

More specifically, "London is great base, if you want to internationalize your business and brand. And so it is a terrific place for Chinese companies that try to go global, and UK also the best root into the single market of EU," the ambassador said.

Both sides welcomed a greater role of RMB in international trade and investment and decided to establish a RMB clearing bank in London.

Obviously, he said, this is a win-win solution for both countries. From the UK side, the clearing bank could create more investment and job opportunities in the future.

As an emerging market economy, China has maintained steady growth and has become a very significant part of the international financial system.

"When you bring together with China -- the world most emerging economy, there is a great potential," he said, adding "We saw big business deals; we saw particular highlights in energy, big deal on oil and gas; we saw big step forward in financial relationship."

Britain also has made contribution to promoting business cooperation with China.

"Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable visited five different cities in China in May, and he brought a lot of British companies with him. And we saw significant step forward in digital industry, creative industry, in advance manufactory, education sector, etc.," he added.

Over all, the China-Britain strategic partnership has borne rich fruits as cooperation enhanced. "All those things happened in the short period between David Cameron came to China in last December and Chinese Premier Li visited UK in June. So there are lots of momentum in the relationship right now," the ambassador stressed.