Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is drawing up plans to visit China early next year, which will include resuming a key financial services trade summit for the first time since 2019.
Sky News has learned that the Treasury is in detailed discussions with Chinese counterparts about holding a UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) as early as January.
The meeting will take place in Beijing and will be the first such gathering since June 2019, when Philip – now Lord – Hammond, was chancellor.
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Worsening political relations and the pandemic conspired to prevent further chapters from what was planned to be an annual summit, which has been held ever since, but Whitehall sources confirmed on Tuesday that the EFD was now “likely” at the start of the next year.
However, they cautioned that no date has yet been set between the two governments.
If confirmed, it will be Mrs. Reeves‘ first trip to China after Labor won the general election and comes as Britain faces tough questions over whether it plans to follow the European Union and the US in imposing tariffs on electric vehicle imports from China.
Last month, the chancellor held talks with He Lifeng, China’s vice premier, after which Chinese state media reported that Beijing was keen to resume economic and financial dialogue between the two countries.
Sources said that alongside the government-to-government talks, a private sector delegation is expected to hold a parallel summit on financial services.
Companies such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered are expected to send representatives to such a meeting given the scale of their presence in the country.
In response to an inquiry by Sky News, a government spokesman said: “Last week the Chancellor spoke with Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss strengthening economic and financial cooperation and communication.
“They agreed to continue discussions on the timing and areas that could be covered in a future engagement.”
The Treasury declined further comment.
In July 2022, key city stakeholders were notified that preliminary plans for the 11th EFD UK and China had been abandoned after months of preparation.
During George Osborne’s chancellorship, Cameron’s government prioritized a “golden era” of UK-China relations, in which Beijing would allow tens of billions of pounds of investment in British infrastructure projects.
But conservatives have been criticized for letting economic ties trump concerns about China’s human rights record.
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Speaking to Bloomberg two weeks after Labour’s general election victory, Ms Reeves said: “We are a small open trading economy and we benefit from these trade links with countries around the world, both for exports and imports, but also for foreign direct investment.
“Our view is that wherever possible we trade, collaborate and challenge in areas where it is important to challenge, but we do not want to close the UK economy to imports and exports.
“We take advantage of these trade connections around the world, including with China.”
China’s current investments in the UK include Britain’s Stel, which is owned by the Jingye Group.
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