Sino-scots links still strong
The China Britain Business Council’s annual Chinese Burns Supper is a highlight of the Scottish Chinese business community calendar, and this year’s event did not disappoint. It is the epitome of “fusion”, feeling Chinese while genuinely Scottish.
Attendees from startups through to multinational groups, education through to politics, are treated to a display including lion dancing to bagpiping, Chinese drums and the Scottish CBBC director’s pre-eminent Address to the Haggis in Scots and Mandarin, all rounded off with a hearty bilingual rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
China is in the spotlight, with much focus on the Prime Minister’s visit, the Belt and Road Initiative and the shape that our bilateral relationship will take following Brexit. It is easy to get caught up in the politics and positioning of Brexit, and they are incredibly important, but events like the Chinese Burns Supper bring home how the relationship is thriving at a micro level. Be it the Chinese entrepreneur who comes to Edinburgh to source his marketing needs, or Scottish luxury retailers who have found a niche market with China’s burgeoning upper middle class, the business dealings with China continue to flow in various and innovative ways.
This variety, encountered in concentrated form at such events, reflects the positivity we experience consistently when discussing Scotland’s relationship with China with both Sino and Scottish clients. Trade and investment links have been growing fantastically in recent years, and the message in our dialogues with those working in various roles in the Chinese government is that they want more and more engagement with and investment into Scotland.
Among businesses, we see an undercurrent of interaction and co-operation which evidences a relationship which is vibrant at all levels. Scotch whisky and Harris Tweed are among many Scottish exports enjoying a warm welcome in the Chinese market, and while the occasional deal of the C-trip/ Skyscanner ilk grabs the headlines, smaller scale investments and partnerships abound.
China’s capital controls have certainly had an effect on investment flows over the past year. The aim of these is to clamp down on irrational outbound investment, and in doing so they serve to focus the direction of Chinese interest and increase scrutiny on high value transactions. But this is not, in our experience, a turning off of the tap.
The message from stakeholders is one of zeal to promote further business links, and the direction of travel is positive. Events like the Chinese Burns Supper are a fantastic manifestation of such optimism, and a fitting celebration of the many forms of Sinoscottish business collaboration that continue to flourish as we move into the year of the dog. Catriona Llanwarne is head of China desk at Burness Paull