An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 8, 2024 shows the Xinghua Bay pilot wind farm where some offshore wind turbines independently produced in Fujian Three Gorges Offshore Wind Power International Industrial Park are installed in Fuqing City, East China's Fujian Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

Wang Hongzhi, head of China's National Energy Administration (NEA) and Ed Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, co-chaired the 8th China-UK Energy Dialogue in Beijing on Monday, during which they had in-depth exchanges on topics including clean energy technologies, the energy transition path, energy security and international energy governance, according to a statement on the NEA's website. 

The dialogue marked the first time that Chinese and UK ministers met in Beijing for the first formal talks to accelerate climate action in nearly eight years, according to a press release on the UK government's website. 

Notably, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on clean energy partnerships after the meeting, which outlines key areas of cooperation such as electricity market reform, power grids, battery storage, offshore wind power, and carbon capture, utilization and storage, as well as clean, low-carbon and renewable hydrogen, according to the NEA statement.

During the meeting, Wang said that China and the UK share broad common interests in the energy sector and have a solid foundation for cooperation. He expressed willingness to work with the UK to actively implement the important consensus reached by the two countries' leaders and promote more mutually beneficial outcomes in China-UK energy cooperation, the NEA statement said.

Miliband noted that he looks forward to strengthening exchanges between the two countries in the energy sector through mechanisms such as the China-UK Energy Dialogue, and the two countries could work together to make greater contributions to global efforts in tackling climate change, according to the NEA statement.

Cui Hongjian, professor of the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday that the dialogue is in line with the overall improvement of China-UK relations. 

"The UK faces rising energy costs due to the impact of international industrial market price fluctuations, which undercut its economic competitiveness. Meanwhile, China is a major energy consumption country and has major green transition plans. Therefore, the prospect of bilateral energy cooperation is very promising as both sides share a consensus and a solid foundation," Cui said. 

Cui also noted that China-UK cooperation will likely gradually increase. "China and the UK could focus firstly on areas of consensus with a solid cooperation foundation, where tangible technological results could help build mutual trust. Such a basis then will create greater room for addressing more difficult issues," he said.

Miliband was also quoted as saying in the UK government statement that "it is simply an act of negligence to today's and future generations not to engage China on how it can play its part in taking action on climate."

A Guardian report noted that "the UK is hoping to shape a new global axis in favor of climate action along with China and a host of developing countries, to offset the impact" of policy changes in the US.

"Considering the US policy shift, strengthening China-UK energy cooperation could inject much-needed stability into the global green transition agenda. It will also set an example for China-Europe cooperation in the joint efforts against climate change," Cui noted. 

Also on Monday, Wang Wentao, China's minister of commerce, met with Swire Group's CEO Merlin Swire. Wang said that the Chinese consumer market has enormous potential and vast development space, and "trade-in" and other policies have been introduced to boost consumption, expressing hope that Swire Group can seize these opportunities.

Swire said that the company attaches great importance to the Chinese market, and has achieved restorative growth in all business segments in China in recent years, according to a statement from the MOFCOM.