BEIJING: UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited Shanghai on Sunday after holding a series of meeting with senior Chinese officials in Beijing on Saturday, during which the two sides reached a series of mutually beneficial outcomes and consensuses, according to the Xinhua News Agency, marking an improvement in Chinese-British economic and trade relations.
Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met Reeves on Sunday. “We look forward to the city of Shanghai and the UK strengthening economic exchanges, industrial investment, financial opening-up and tech innovation cooperation, and warmly welcome British companies to attend the China International Import Expo this year and increase their presence in Shanghai in sectors such as clean energy, advanced manufacturing and healthcare,” Gong said.
Reeves said Shanghai plays an important role in China-UK cooperation, with two-thirds British companies operating in China building their headquarters in Shanghai.
Looking ahead, we hope to cooperate in more areas to promote the common development of the two economies and to bring UK-China cooperation to a new level, she said, according to a press release from the Shanghai government.
On Saturday, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met Reeves, who was in Beijing for the 11th China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue.
China and the UK are both major economies and financial heavyweights in the world, Han said, pointing out that strengthening economic and financial cooperation in the spirit of strategic partnership is of great significance to promoting economic growth, improving people’s lives and encouraging green development in these two countries.
It will also inject confidence and impetus into the development of the world economy, Han added.
Also on Saturday, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Reeves co-chaired the 11th China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue – an important mechanism for dialogue and cooperation on strategic, overall and long-term major issues in the economic and financial fields – after a nearly six-year hiatus.
He said that China is willing to work with the UK to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, uphold the positioning of strategic partners, strengthen communication and dialogue, further expand economic and financial cooperation, and provide more impetus for the development of stable and mutually beneficial China-UK relations.
Reeves said that the UK is willing to strengthen practical cooperation with China in the fields of economy and finance, and develop a consistent, lasting and mutually respectful relationship between the two countries. During the dialogue, the two sides reached a series of mutually beneficial outcomes and consensus, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
As the first senior British official to visit China in 2025, Reeves’ trip hit the headlines of many Western media outlets. The Associated Press highlighted Reeves’ emphasis of the need for a “stable, pragmatic” UK-China relationship. The Guardian said the trip “assumed an even greater significance” after a turbulent week on the financial markets in which UK borrowing costs climbed close to a 16-year high on Friday.
Titled “Reeves seeks growth on China visit after UK’s market pain,” Bloomberg said the landmark exchange reflects the British Labour government’s efforts to stay focused on long-term plans to get the British economy growing again.
“The resumption of the dialogue mechanism reflects the relatively positive and pragmatic attitude of the Starmer government toward China-UK economic and trade cooperation,” Zhao Huaipu, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
