China UK Photo: VCG

 
The UK is eyeing China's stable market with its huge potential for tackling Britain's difficulties in economic development affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict on top of the US' push for "decoupling," an expert said on Monday amid the UK's reported move to revive plans for China trade talks. 

Rishi Sunak's government is examining several options for strengthening economic ties with China, including the revival of ministerial trade talks for the first time in five years, Politico reported on Monday, citing two UK government officials

The report noted that convening the UK-China joint economic and trade committee (JETCO) for the first time since 2018 is one option being looked at, which is a forum attended by ministers and senior company representatives and effectively signals two countries' desire to boost trade, while coming hand-in-hand with mini export deals. 

The options including a JETCO aim to make "Chinese businesses more proactive cheerleaders for the UK," according to the report.  

The bilateral relationship has always maintained close with a solid foundation for the trade and economic cooperation, Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Li stressed that the economic difficulties, resulted by the Russian-Ukraine conflict and the US' push for decoupling which may not be solved through its current policy tools, has made the UK to revisit its economic and trade strategies with China especially for its stable market with a huge market potential. 

Li also highlighted a wide range of fields for unleashing the future cooperation potential from finance, trade to technology such as the digital economy and artificial intelligence and renewable energy, which may offer more opportunities to boost the UK's economic development. 

He also stressed the significance for both sides to operate trade and economic activities with the maximal convenience and not to interpret the trade, economy and investment issues from a political perspective, while urging the UK to consider the China-UK trade and economic relationship through a win-win approach. 

The UK, the guest country of honor of this year's China International Fair for Trade in Services which was held in early September, sent its largest-ever delegation for the fair as about 60 British companies and organizations engaging in policy dialogue with their Chinese counterparts.

James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK, said in August when visiting China that British enterprises look forward to more cooperation with China and exploring the Chinese market, the Xinhua News Agency reported.