Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves cosy up to China despite major UK closure snub (Image: Getty)
The UK government is “open” to reviving a crucial trade dialogue with China, as it steps up its engagement with Beijing after years of frosty relations.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told POLITICO that trade is an area “where cooperation is possible with China” — but stressed that Britain would also have its own trade requests for Beijing should re-engagement proceed.
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The UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) — originally established to enhance trade and investment ties between the two nations — was halted byformer PM Rishi Sunak in response to Beijing’s clampdown on Hong Kong.
In recent years, China has clamped down on Hong Kong's freedoms, stoking mass protests in the city and drawing international criticism.
But Sunak allegedly tried to revive the trade deal with China but to no success before he was ushered out of power in this year's summer election.
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The UK is open to restarting trade talks with China (Image: Getty)
Asked if the UK would consider reopening JETCO, Reynolds said he was “certainly open to having a conversation” about it.
It comes after the UK's biggest abbatoirs had their licences to export pork to China suspended in 2022 following concerns over Covid-19 outbreaks in their facilities. Reynolds queried whether reinstating JETCO would help resolve the export issues.
The UK already maintains JETCO dialogues with several other countries, which are often accompanied by small export agreements and signal an intent to strengthen trade.
This latest move aligns with recent diplomatic efforts, following Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s visit to Beijing and Shanghai earlier this month, with plans underway for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to visit in early 2025.
Reynolds remarked that, compared to other G7 countries, “the UK is an outlier by how little engagement we have had” with China.
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Plans are being drawn up for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to visit China next year (Image: Getty)
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Despite ongoing tensions between the United States and China, he noted that “many senior US politicians and Cabinet members are regularly engaging with Chinese counterparts. It’s a lot more than us.”
He continued: “China is simultaneously a significant part of the global economy, our sixth-largest trading partner in the UK, and at the same time it's not the same as a European country or the US or Canada, or the conversation we've been having with Brazil here.
“It’s a relationship where sometimes you've got to have quite difficult conversations because you're unhappy with moves on the Chinese side, but at the same time, where co-operation is possible with China, trade is [a] space where you'd expect that to be taking place.”