With the rapidly evolving China-Britain economic relationship, doing business with China by Britain will soon be no different than doing business by the country with Germany or France, a well-known British businessman has said.[Special coverage]
In an interview with Xinhua, Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life plc, a Britain-based insurance group, highlighted the achievements of China's growth and fruitful relationship between China and Britain. He said the golden year of the two countries' relationship is built on the basis of the past major developments.
NO DIFFERENCE
"We are the most welcomed country in the West for Chinese investment, and Chinese investors see lots of opportunities here. London is the most offshore financial centre for China," said Grimstone, who has paid more than 200 visits to China since 1992.
Last month, Grimstone visited China as a member of the British delegation led by the country's First Secretary of State and Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne.
Grimstone, delighted to see the development of China's currency Renminbi (the Chinese yuan) and the country's financial reforms, said: "We used to talk about the internationalization of Renminbi, but the currency is now international -- the volume of Renminbi traded internationally rises every month."
He expected the next big step of China's foreign trade to be the internationalization of its investment portfolio, highlighting Britain as a hotspot destination for Chinese assets.
"Everybody, including my friends in China, expect that as part of the the next wave of liberalization, there will be more freedom to invest assets overseas," Grimstone said.
"You will see Chinese asset manager actively looking to establish presences in London, and you will also see asset manager in Britain doing more and more businesses with China," he added.
Looking beyond the collaboration between Britain and China in the financial sector, he said: "I think the most visible thing (in the near future) is Chinese investment in British infrastructure, such as nuclear power station, high speed rail system, and property markets."
"Eventually, I think in not a long period from now, doing business with China will become doing business with any other country. There will be no differences for doing business between UK and China and as it between UK and Germany, or UK and France," he said.
