Business leaders and others look back on inspiring evolution of win-win ties

An online exhibition of achievements by Chinese enterprises in the United Kingdom during the past two decades was shared on Monday.

The exhibition, which was hosted by the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, or CCCUK, focused on "new heights of economic and trade cooperation, new areas of rooted operations, and new opportunities for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation "between the UK and China.

The event, which was supported by China's embassy in the UK, The 48 Group Club, and the China-Britain Business Council, featured 130 photographs of historical moments involving Chinese enterprises in the UK.

And it illustrated the contributions made by Chinese companies to promoting mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields, and the development of China-UK economic and trade relations.

The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 20th anniversary of the founding of CCCUK.

Speaking at the event, Zheng Zeguang, China's recently appointed ambassador to the UK, said the relationship between China and the UK has kept making progress throughout the last 70-plus years.

He pointed out that those bilateral relations may be encountering headwinds at the moment, but the key to continuing that improvement is "to respect each other's core interests and major concerns, enhance mutual understanding through equal-footed dialogues, and reduce and manage our differences".

"China creates opportunity for the UK, rather than poses a threat," Zheng said. "It is my hope that the two sides will move forward in the same direction and work together to achieve win-win results."

Stephen Perry, chairman of The 48 Group Club, an independent business network group committed to promoting trade and cultural links between the UK and China, said the current difficult phase in relations between the West and China is a reflection of China's return to being one of the world's major economies and to it having global influence.

He said: "The world is changing, and within that is the great rise of the continent of Asia-from being a dynamo of world growth, Asia is now the largest source of world growth, and China is the largest (economy) within that."

Perry called on the UK to participate with, and in, Asia, in order to develop its own economy.

Fang Wenjian, chairman of the CCCUK and general manager of Bank of China London Branch, said: "Both China and the UK are standing at the new historical crossroads. Although there are some dark clouds hanging over the current political environment, the successful and uplifting stories illustrated by our exhibition point clearly to the fact that only cooperation will bring prosperity and tangible benefits to both sides."

Fang said the exhibition should enhance understanding and mutual trust between businesses from China and the UK, boost confidence, promote collaboration, and herald a new wide-ranging chapter of win-win cooperation.