Hammond: China a ‘natural partner’
PHILIP HAMMOND, the Chancellor, said Britain was a natural partner for China’s new $1 trillion Silk Road programme, as he sought new opportunities for post-brexit trade.
The comments are the latest sign that Britain’s relations with China are back on track after they appeared to cool last summer when Theresa May ordered a review of the Hinkley Point project.
Mr Hammond was speaking to 1,500 delegates in Beijing at the opening of the inaugural Belt and Road Forum, which is being attended by 29 world leaders, including Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
It came as Germany’s finance minister warned it would not sign up to the pact unless it included guarantees on free trade and fair competition. “If these demands are not met, then we cannot sign. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” said Brigitte Zypries.
Belt and Road is being promoted by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, as an ambitious attempt to connect China with Europe, Asia and Africa by multibillion-pound infrastructure projects.
However, concern has been raised that Beijing is seeking to push its strategic ambitions with its new brand of globalisation. There are also worries that countries involved could be burdened with huge debt, as most of the funds are loans, rather than grants.
Britain is keen to sign a free trade deal with China when it exits the EU, and while Beijing has repeatedly expressed support for closer European integration, it has also said that Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc would not affect ties. Mr Hammond told the forum: “As China drives forward the Belt and Road initiative from the East, we in Britain are a natural partner in the West, standing ready to work with all Belt and Road partner countries.”