British Business and Trade Minister Jonathan Reynolds is “open” to resuming trade dialogue with China, noting that this is an area where cooperation with Beijing is possible, British media write.
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«Reynolds told Politico that trade is an area “where cooperation with China is possible,” the media said, noting that the British minister had made it clear that London would have its own demands on Beijing if engagement were to begin.
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Last year it was revealed that the government of former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was quietly developing plans to hold trade talks with China to strengthen economic ties between the countries. They also discussed the possibility of convening a joint British-Chinese Economics and Trade Committee (JETCO) for the first time since 2018. However, Sunak ultimately failed to make headway before a snap election this summer that brought Labor to power.
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Asked whether the UK would restart JETCO, Reynolds said he was “certainly open to talking” about it.
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Meetings in the JETCO format were held annually until 2018, when bilateral relations between the countries deteriorated due to the situation around Hong Kong. It has been reported that such meetings are often accompanied by small trade deals and are attended by ministers and representatives of leading companies.
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Relations between China and the UK have been complicated by a number of issues in recent years. Countries accuse each other of spying. Thus, a case is being conducted against two British men, one of whom was an assistant to a member of parliament, on charges of spying for China. Official Beijing, in turn, announced in June that it had uncovered a major espionage case involving the recruitment of two employees of Chinese central government agencies by the British intelligence service MI6.
