British companies are positive about China's market prospect and its long-term return potential, an expert at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"The CBI members have actively invested in China for the last 20 years. They don't see a lack of confidence in China; I think they see some rebalancing of economy," said Guy Dru Drury, China Chief Representative of the CBI.
The CBI, founded in 1965, is a business lobbying body in Britain, representing interests of its 160,000 member companies.
"They are not lacking of confidence in China's economy, perhaps they are dialing down the amount they invest, but that is the same for nearly all our CBI members, not just in China," he said.
"China's year-on-year GDP growth, whether it is 7 percent or 4 percent, over the past two years, has been equivalent to the entire economy of Holland in Europe, who is a huge advanced economy and an export economy," the expert said.
"Chinese market offers stability and foreseeability to British companies who take a long-term view and launch long-term investment plans," he said, as the country is undergoing an economic rebalancing, yielding huge amount of opportunities in sectors like healthcare, finance, creative industries and retails.
According to him, creative industries, which Britain has a significant presence in the global market, and e-commerce, where China is leading the world, are fields of great potential to collaborate, as the both countries have great interests and expertise in these areas and have already had many successful examples.
"Companies that are willing to involve in the new business model, which are selling to China's customers who are sophisticated and longing for the good quality products, and carry out long-term investments, have been benefiting from China's growth over the past five years," he said.
"It is quite different from the old model which China was serving as the manufacturing center. This is the reason why I am very optimistic on China's market," said the expert who has worked and lived in Beijing for more than 10 years.
He said the upcoming state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Britain will lift the bilateral relations onto a new altitude, and British businesses are happy to see the continuous improvement of the bilateral trading and economic ties.
There are many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain that hope to enter the Chinese market. Moreover, the British government extends great supports for them to expand businesses in sectors such as healthcare and financial services.
The CBI's members are enthusiastic and ready to be further involved in China's reform agenda, such as the internationalization of the renminbi, the Belt and Road Initiative as well as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) program, Dru said.
"During his visit to China last month, our Chancellor of Exchequer (British Finance Minister) George Osborne made a pledge in Shanghai Stock Exchange building, saying quite clearly that he wants the London Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange to link closer," he said.
He noted that the CBI's members are totally understanding and willing to be part of the renminbi's internationalization journey, and that some of the members like the London-based brokerage company ICAP are now trading in renminbi in London and supporting the platform that is emerging in Shanghai, Hong Kong and London.
He added that he is keenly interested in China's ready-to-released 13th five-year plan and will keep watching on three spheres: environmental protection and climate change commitments, the details of the Belt and Road Initiative and where British businesses can benefit from it for the next five years, the concrete policies of China's economic rebalancing, such as the reforms of state-owned enterprises and the continuing opening-up of financial services sectors.
President Xi Jinping is to pay his first state visit to the United Kingdom from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23.
