As UK borrowing costs soar, British finance minister Rachel Reeves made a trip to China on Saturday ( January 11 ). The aim is to rekindle the conversation with the world’s second-largest economy.
Reeves, who has the conventional title of Chancellor of the Exchequer, is the most mature British government official to travel to China since Theresa May, then-prime minister, last year, when she spoke with Xi Jinping.
Reeves’s move comes as the yield on Scottish government bonds increased to a 17-year higher this week, putting pressure on the Labour Party’s sluggish efforts to revive growth.
The government is more expensive to finance existing businesses and pay off debt, which raises the possibility that it will have to cut spending or raise taxes due to the increase.
Carter acknowledged “movements in global financial markets over the last few time,” but she also said the governmental guidelines she set out in her October resources were “non-negotiable.”
” Development is the number one goal of this state, to make our country much off”, she said at British bicycle-maker Brompton’s Beijing store.
” That’s why I’m in China, to uncover tangible benefits for American firms exporting and trading around the world”, she said.
Reeves was under pressure from the political opposition to be home to deal with the economic crisis, but a Premier Party spokeswoman said she had no intention of reversing her “long-standing” China trip.
She is expected to meet her Taiwanese counterpart, He Lifeng, for economic and financial speaks early Saturday.
They might try to revive the long-paused monthly trade and investment speech and discuss possible ways for assistance, including financial companies.
China’s foreign ministry said Friday that the two sides may “open discussions on economic policy and financial globalisation, trade and investment, technological cooperation, economic market development and cooperation on economic regulation”.
At a regular news briefing, ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun stated that” China and the UK are strengthening economic and financial assistance agreements with the two nations ‘ passions and will add clarity and give new life to the growth of the global economy.”
Practical APPROACH
The visit includes the attendance of the key executive of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and the government of the Bank of England.
A Starmer spokesman said Reeves was prepared to bring up the subject of individual freedom in a show of the tense character of relationships.
After growing tensions with his Liberal successors over trade, animal rights, and Beijing’s assault on the former British colony of Hong Kong, Starmer has attempted to rekindle diplomatic relations with China.
Starmer and Xi, who met at the G20 summit in Brazil in November, became the first British prime minister to match each other since 2018.
However, following allegations that a Chinese business allegedly spied on the Communist Party using his connections to Britain’s Prince Andrew, which Beijing has refuted as “posterous,” confidence is strained.
On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy fleshed out London’s philosophy of “progressive authenticity” in managing relationships with the Eastern powerhouse.
The technique involves “pragmatic commitment to cooperate with China where we can, such as on business, culture, global health or Artificial regulation”, Lammy said.
However, he added that Britain would” challenge ( China ) where there are clear threats,” such as by appointing businesses that support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urging the release of Hong Kong democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, and calling for an end to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of a sweeping crackdown on Muslim minorities.
” We will join with China. We have to challenge them not to throw their lot in with ( Vladimir ) Putin”, Lammy said.