UK seeks ‘pragmatic and predictable’ ties with China to boost economic growth
BEIJING – British finance minister Rachel Reeves, said on Saturday that “pragmatic and predictable” relations with Beijing would help boost economic growth and trade.
Under pressure from a sharp rise in British interest rates, Reeves defended her budget at the start of the two-day visit to China, where she is seeking to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen for nearly six years.
“The fiscal rules that I set out in my budget in October are non-negotiable, and growth is the number one mission of this government to make our country better off,” Reeves told reporters at a Brompton bicycle shop in Beijing.
“That’s why I’m in China to unlock tangible benefits for British businesses exporting and trading around the world to ensure that we have greater access to the second-largest economy in the world.”
The rise in British government borrowing costs, due in part to a global bond selloff, prompted comparisons with the 2022 “mini-budget” crisis that forced then-Prime Minister Liz Truss out of Downing Street.
However, this week’s market moves have been less sharp, and there has so far been no evidence of the strain on institutional investors that forced the Bank of England into emergency bond purchases in 2022.
On trade, asked whether Britain would follow Washington and Brussels in imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Reeves, who will be in Shanghai on Sunday, said: “We keep issues under review, but we make decisions in our national interest.”
British car manufacturers, “like Jaguar Land Rover, export substantially to Chinese markets, and we want to help them to grow.”
After her bicycle shop visit, Reeves met Vice President Han Zheng, telling him it was “important to have open and frank dialogue in areas where we agree, but also in areas where we have different views.”
This visit follows a dialogue opened last year between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping, the first between the two countries’ leaders since 2018.
