Feature: British entrepreneurs eye "golden age" opportunities for China-UK cooperation

A group of young British entrepreneurs are set to tap into the vast range of business opportunities for further cooperation with China, as the two nations are entering a "golden age" for deepening ties.

The Young Icebreakers, a leading and respected network for young business people in Britain and China, have gathered regularly in London in the past seven years to discuss opportunities for collaboration.

The organization was created to reflect and enhance the trailblazing heritage from the British 48 Group Club, a leading independent business network which has been committed to promoting positive links with China for more than six decades.

Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to Britain, said the young icebreakers have possessed two "valuable qualities": the audacity of the young, and the pioneering spirit of icebreaking.

"These qualities are essential if you are to meet the challenges of our time. This is a 'golden time' to further deepen China-UK relations," Liu said at the Young Icebreakers' 7th anniversary dinner.

Members of the network, mostly young entrepreneurs under the age of 40, said now they were looking for ways to further explore the rich opportunities underlying the "golden age" of China-UK partnership.

"There are some active initiatives right now to deepen cultural understanding between China and UK. That has meant that there seems to be an unprecedented level of cooperation, mutual understanding and opportunities for both sides," Edward Holroyd Pearce, co-chair of the Young Icebreakers, told Xinhua.

"Whatever the industry, whatever the size of business, and whatever the opportunities, there seems to be a lot going on at the moment," said Pearce, who is also director and co-founder of CRCC Asia, a company specializing in providing internships, study abroad programs and consulting services.

He hoped that the Young Icebreakers continually strengthen mutual understanding and mutual respect, and always be careful "not to go backwards."

"The world is becoming a smaller place and as a result the UK-China relations will continue to be very strong and even more important," he added.

For entrepreneurs working in different industries, the "golden age" represents varied opportunities in a wide range of areas.

Maury D. Shenk, managing director of consulting firm Lily Innovation Advisors, said China is moving from a low-cost manufacturing economy to a higher technology economy, and both countries can benefit from technological cooperation.

"With China's great success and a large amount of money, I think there are a lot of opportunities for Chinese companies to invest in foreign technologies in Britain and in other countries; British entrepreneurs should look for opportunities where they could find people in China who could use these technologies," Shenk elaborated.

Clive Benford, senior manager at KPMG UK, saw "a huge number of opportunities" in the "Belt and Road" initiatives advocated by China.

"If you can literally form a bridge -- the silk roads -- between the developed China and the developed Europe, there is a huge amount of area in between where there hasn't yet been development opportunities for growth, new business or new expansion," he said.

The "Belt and Road" initiatives refer to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives proposed by China in 2013 for improved cooperation with countries in a vast part of Asia, Europe and Africa, linking the vibrant east asia economic circle at one end with the developed European economic circle.

Benford's views were echoed by Timothy Democratis, senior associate of British law firm Clifford Chance LLP.

"Personally, I am working with Chinese banks and Chinese companies, and I regularly travel between London and Beijing. The opportunities for us as an English law firm are in China getting bigger and bigger, especially with the 'Belt and Road' strategy," he told Xinhua. Endit