Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao urged the British businessmen on
Monday in London to seize the opportunity of participating in the
competition on the Chinese market with longer and wider
perspectives, and promised the Chinese government would help create
more favorable conditions.
Delivering a speech at the banquet hosted in his honor by the
China-Britain Business Council, Hu said that in recent years, the
relationship between China and Britain gathered a good growth
momentum and was buttressed by steadily increased common interests,
deepened mutual understanding and mutual trust.
He
said top leaders of both countries had placed high importance on
developing the relationship. Bilateral exchanges and cooperation in
various fields had kept expanding and producing rich results, Hu
said. All this served as a sound basis for even closer cooperation
in trade, economy and other endeavors.
According to Chinese official figures, two-way trade between China
and Britain has grown steadily, approaching US$10 billion last year
and totaling US$7.58 billion in the first three quarters of this
year. Of the European Union members, Britain has become the second
largest trading partner of China.
Hu
said he was pleased with the continued development of bilateral
commercial ties, and that there was great untapped potential for
further cooperation.
He
noted that in China's priority development areas, like
infrastructure, telecommunications, energy and environmental
protection, Britain was strongly competitive and should seek to
play a bigger role.
On
the current trade imbalance, the Chinese vice president told the
British businessmen that China was ready to take active steps to
increase imports from Britain.
"Right now, both the mix and level of China's imports and exports,
as well as the foreign investment China seeks to attract, have
undergone significant changes," Hu said. He added that China needed
more high-tech products and personnel with managerial and
professional expertise.
He
noted that as international competition for the Chinese market
share intensified, China enjoyed greater leverage in choosing its
partners consistent with market rules.
He
said China welcomed friends from British business communities to
explore new areas while consolidating their traditional advantages,
readjusting their export mix to China to include more high-tech
products, stepping up technological transfers and realizing a
balanced trade by constantly increasing the trade volume.
He
noted that the China-UK Investment Partnership, jointly launched
recently by the China-Britain Business Council and China' s
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, represented a
useful effort to further expand investment cooperation.
The Chinese vice president said he was confident that with
concerted efforts, the mutually beneficial cooperation between
China and Britain would have broad prospects and bear even richer
fruit.
Hu
arrived here Sunday for an official visit to Britain after winding
up a working visit to Russia. Britain is the second leg of his
five-nation Europe tour which will also take him to France, Spain
and Germany.
(
China Daily October 30,
2001)