On 20 March 2024, H.E. Ambassador Zheng Zeguang attended the 2024 UK-China Business Forum hosted by the China-Britain Business Council at invitation and delivered a keynote speech entitled “China’s new development brings fresh opportunities for cooperation”.
Minister Bim Afolami, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, also attended and delivered remarks. Nearly 200 participants from the Chinese and British business communities were present at the event.
In his speech, Ambassador Zheng used four key words, "confidence, development, openness, and cooperation," to interpret the main messages from the Two Sessions. He emphasised that China is firmly committed to advancing high-quality development, and to the Chinese path to modernisation. China has full confidence in achieving the projected targets and will continue to inject stability and impetus into the world.
Ambassador Zheng pointed out that the main targets for economic and social development this year fully demonstrate our confidence in China’s economic prospects. Our confidence comes from our analysis of the situation. The long-term trajectory of China's economy remains positive. Our confidence comes from the actions we are taking, which includes accelerating the development of new quality productive forces, investment in scientists, engineers, and in education, expanding domestic demand, and pursuing higher-standard opening up. Our confidence also comes from the growth momentum that is accumulating. In the first two months of this year, China’s foreign trade in goods saw a year-on-year increase of 8.7%. The total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 7%, and retail sales of consumer goods climbed 5.5%.
President Xi Jinping emphasised the need to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, setting the direction for high-quality development. China will foster emerging and future-oriented industries, including hydrogen power, new materials and innovative drugs. We will create new growth engines such as biomanufacturing, commercial spaceflight, and the low-altitude economy. We will also open up new fields such as quantum technology and life sciences.
By emphasising new quality productive forces, we are not casting aside traditional ones. Instead, We follow the principle of establishing the new before abolishing the old and will adopt a region-specific approach.
The Two Sessions made clear China will pursue higher-standard opening up and promote mutual benefits. China will promote alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules, steadily expand institutional opening up, and amplify the interplay between domestic and international markets and resources. We will ensure the overall stable performance of foreign trade and foreign investment, and foster new strengths in international economic cooperation and competition.
China has just released an action plan to steadily promote high-level opening up and make greater efforts to attract and utilise foreign investment, including measures to expand market access, enhance appeal to foreign investment, foster a level playing field, facilitate the flow of innovation factors, as well as better align domestic rules with high-standard international economic and trade rules. We will promote the building of a market-oriented, world-class business environment governed by a sound legal framework.
Ambassador Zheng pointed out that the Two Sessions reaffirmed that China will stay committed to an independent foreign policy of peace and to peaceful development. We will remain firm in pursuing a strategy of opening up for mutual benefit.
We will continue to uphold openness and inclusiveness, dialogue and cooperation and common development and oppose hegemonic, domineering and bullying acts and the disruption of the global industrial and supply chains in the forms of “decoupling” and “small yard, high fence”.
China is ready to work together with all countries to pursue high quality Belt and Road cooperation, and act upon the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilisation Initiative, so as to build a community with a shared future for mankind.
Ambassador Zheng stressed that history and reality have proven that the economic and trade cooperation between China and the UK holds huge potentials and aligns with the fundamental interests of both countries.
It is hoped that business communities of the two countries will work together, while deepening cooperation in traditional areas, also align development strategies, and tap into the emerging areas such as new energy, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and digital economy, so as to complement our respective strengths and achieve more win-win results.
People with insight from both countries must make concerted efforts for the development of stable and mutually-beneficial China-UK relations.
Minister Afolami spoke highly of the achievements of UK-China economic and trade cooperation, expressing the UK's readiness to strengthen engagement and exchanges and deepen cooperation in trade, finance, education, culture, and other areas with China, and jointly address global challenges such as climate change. He also expressed that the UK government supports the British business community in their cooperation with China.
Participants from various sectors in both China and the UK at the forum said that the Chinese economy is resilient, dynamic, and full of opportunities. They are eager to continue the mutually beneficial cooperation and share in development opportunities.
