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China's transformation offers opportunities for British businesses

Xinhua, April 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

China's trillion-dollar economy, despite a slowdown, still offers huge opportunities for British businesses, according to British officials and entrepreneurs.

China's new Five-Year Plan complements the United Kingdom's strengths and UK businesses must maintain an understanding of how the changing environment fits with China's long-term ambitions, said Michael Charlton, director-general of UK Trade and Investment in China at the recently concluded CHINA NOW 2016 Forum.

The Chinese economy expanded 6.7 percent in Q1 year on year, with the service sector growing 7.6 percent, outpacing agricultural and industrial sectors and accounting for 56.9 percent of the overall economy, up two percentage points from a year earlier, according to official data.

Charlton pointed out that UK businesses can seek opportunities in education and training, medical services, technology and green development.

Wider initiatives such as the Belt and Road also offer plenty of room for partnership in infrastructure, drawing on funding from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and others, Charlton added.

UK exports of goods to China have jumped five-fold since 2004 and services exports have doubled since 2010. The UK remains the top destination for Chinese investment in Europe and is diversifying into areas such as technology, financial services and retail. The opportunities are there for UK companies in a greater range of fields than ever, according to the China-Britain Business Council.

Carma Elliot, head of the British Council in China, pointed out that while other sectors in China are suffering from overcapacity, UK-China cooperation in fields such as education are actually under capacity.

Global competitiveness in different sectors differs in China, civil aviation being a key example where China is competitive in component supply but lags behind in complete systems, said Patrick Horgan, director of NE Asia at Rolls-Royce, adding that "Made in China 2025" is designed to address such imbalances in various industries. Endi