Vince Cable, UK's former business and industry minister makes a speech at the 2th WZBC Wenzhou Entrepreneurs Forum held by Wenzhou Business College in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on Novermber 21, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Wenzhou Business College

China has been opening-up for over 40 years with a brilliant success in economic policy implementation as a result. "As to concerns about the so-called decoupling, my view of that is anything which keeps China integrated with the Western world is welcome," said the UK's former business and industry minister Sir Vince Cable, in an interview with the Global Times.

Cable made the remarks on the sideline of the 2th WZBC Wenzhou Entrepreneurs Forum held by Wenzhou Business College in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on Tuesday. 

There is no need to worry about a few loud hostile voices against developing China-UK relations, because a good number of British officials value the close relationship with China, said Cable, who served as secretary of state for business, innovation and skills from 2010 to 2015 in the coalition government led by David Cameron.

"There is wide variety of political views in the UK and we have some people who are rather extreme, who are echoing what you could call hawkish views. But I don't share them," he said.

"There are many politicians who value close ties with China, we don't want confrontation. And so I would suggest not worrying too much about the few loud voices which are more hostile than the British public," he added. 

Former UK prime minister David Cameron (left) leaves 10 Downing Street with Sir Philip Barton, the permanent under-secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, after being appointed Foreign Secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle on November 13, 2023 in London. Photo: VCG

On November 13, Britain's former prime minister David Cameron was appointed as Foreign Secretary. During his term as the prime minister, China-UK relations enjoyed a golden era. 

When asked what kind of expectations he held for China-UK relations going forward, Cable said that Cameron was his boss in the coalition, and that they had worked together and he hoped that the "same spirit will continue." "We must be honest, in the last few years there have been problems partly due to the global geopolitics at play." 

Cameron's predecessor James Cleverly came to China a few weeks ago and made it clear that Britain wants to restore the best relations with China, he added.

On August 30, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, in Beijing.

The UK is committed to strengthening communication with China, taking positive actions to resolve difficulties, enhance understanding, and embrace opportunities, Cleverly said, adding that British enterprises look forward to more cooperation with China and exploring the Chinese market, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

China has long been one of the top trade partners of the UK. According to data released by the UK Department for Business and Trade on November 17, total bilateral trade in goods and services was 108.7 billion pounds ($136.08 billion) during the four quarters to the end of the second quarter of 2023.

"Trade complementarity is that China is brilliant manufactured goods with high quality and competitive pricing. Britain's strength is more in the services sector, such as financial services, educational services, banking consultancy and legal services. So that is the nature of the complementarity," Cable said. 

He is also upbeat about China's economic development. In his view, the around 5 percent growth of China's GDP is much higher than almost any other country in the world.

"There I see evidence of a genuine problem which is the over-expansion of the property sector, but I think it will be returning to comfortable growth without too much problem as the Chinese government is adjusting it," he said.