John McLean OBE has praised the British Prime Minister’s meeting with Xi Jinping, suggesting “the only way to actually improve things is to engage”.
He told GB News: “The UK and China have been trading together for decades, but what we’ve actually seen, especially in the last eight years, is an inconsistent approach. From a British business point of view, we don’t know whether our UK Government is supportive of trade with China or not.”
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“A company deciding where it’s going to put its money and its effort, if they’re getting an incomplete approach, will probably decide not to go to China.”
“With the Labour government coming to power in July 2024, we’ve now started to see some consistency. We’ve had economic dialogue. We’ve had JETCO (UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission) and now we’ve had this visit. The visit is important because it’s a signal to UK business that working with China is something that should be considered actively. The addition of visa-free access takes away significant barriers.”
Mr McLean, who worked in China for over 20 years, said: “The purpose of the visit was not necessarily to go and sign lots of deals. The purpose was to create a re-engagement, and that re-engagement has happened now.”
“The work starts with our companies and our governments sitting around tables and agreeing on how we can work together and improve our trade. We have to put into context that China represents our third largest trading partner. We have 370,000 jobs as a result of exports to China.”
The Chairman of the China UK Business Development Centre said: “Look at what’s actually happened in China over the last 10 years, especially the economic advances, advances in technology, electric vehicles, green power and pharmaceuticals. China are way, way ahead of us. So if we in this country want to improve significantly, we have got to work with other partners around the world, which includes China.”
On China’s poor human rights record, he said: “We have to put things in perspective. We do not live in a perfect society. We’ve got to do what’s best for our country. If we do not like what other countries are doing, the only way to actually improve things is to engage.”
“That means sitting around a table and actually having an open and direct conversation. If you haven’t had that for eight years, it is very difficult to improve relationships. Dialogue is crucial, and that is actually what has occurred from the last few days. In terms of the Prime Minister’s visit, we have started something which we hadn’t had in place for a long time.”
