00:00Well, a leading British tax and business advisory firm has called on Burnham to have a 10-year plan for
00:06strengthening economic ties with China.
00:08Winnie Tao is the head of Blake Rothenberg's China business group.
00:13The last 10 years we have had a lot of ups and downs with the UK-China relationship, starting with
00:19a glamorous golden era.
00:22But then we have seen both the business and political relationships and diplomatic relationships go cold and warm.
00:30And I think this sends a very confusing message, particularly towards China, as to how we should establish a healthy
00:39relationship between the two countries.
00:41So I think, first of all, up to now, what we can observe is that Andy has expressed overall a
00:48warm and engagement type of attitude towards China, which is encouraging.
00:53He personally led a trade mission to China back in 2018 and even boarded on a high-speed rail.
01:00And in very recent time, in April this year, he has also expressed some warm outlook towards the UK-China
01:07relationship.
01:07And I think what his challenge will be is how he can blend this outlook into his 10-year plan.
01:15He has focused on creating more job opportunities to young people, to the UK.
01:21And I think, in a way, he could think about how his foreign policies, particularly how he could work in
01:28a pragmatic spirit with China to bring those opportunities to the younger generations.
01:32Well, Winnie, if we look at the personal history of Andy Burnham, he used to be the mayor of Manchester.
01:38And the city is quite traditionally welcoming and more friendly to Chinese investment.
01:43What do you think it means for Chinese international business community?
01:48I'd like to hope that Andy will bring the similar type of experience and introduce the same thing to the
01:56rest of the UK, now that he is prime minister.
02:00One thing that we should note is that Andy has appointed Ed Miliband to be his foreign secretary.
02:07And we can observe that, for instance, when Ed Miliband was visiting China last March, where he was energy secretary,
02:15he has also adopted a very similar pragmatic and engaging type of outlook in China.
02:22So he visited Beijing.
02:24I think he was in Tsinghua University.
02:26And following his visit, he was able to renew a 10-year-old UK-China clean energy partnership.
02:31So I think that's encouraging.
02:33And very recently, last Thursday, Ed Miliband was able to meet with Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister in Manila.
02:44And it was great to hear some keywords from Ed Miliband, which hopefully represents what Andy Burnham's approach will be.
02:52What are the challenges for existing Chinese outbound companies operating in the UK right now?
02:57And how can they overcome them?
02:58And what lessons can be learned?
02:59The challenges often comes from a cultural aspect, because the Chinese and UK businesses do operate in slightly different ways.
03:10I think we need two things.
03:12Number one, I often explain to people that the Chinese people, as well as companies, know about the UK a
03:20lot more than how the UK business community know about China.
03:24I would encourage not only the political leaders, but also the UK people to visit China and get to work
03:32with Chinese businesses.
03:33What I really hope for is that I think the UK has a great offering in establishing global brands, marketing,
03:41as well as research and development opportunities.
03:45I think this can really create a very good partnership with the industrial volume that the Chinese companies can bring
03:55to the UK.
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