Hammond says Brexit Britain must back China's new Silk Road

Phillip Hammond, the chancellor, said Britain was a natural partner for China’s new $1 trillion Silk Road programme, as he seeks new opportunities for post-Brexit trade.

کد خبر: ۶۹۴۰۶۷

تاریخ: ۲۴ ارديبهشت ۱۳۹۶ - ۱۴:۲۷

The comments are the latest sign that Britain’s relations with China are back on track after they appeared to cool last summer when Theresa May, the prime minister, ordered a review of the Hinkley Point project.

The chancellor was speaking to 1,500 delegates in Beijing at the opening of the inaugural Belt and Road Forum (BRF), which is being attended by 29 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

Belt and Road is being promoted by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, as an ambitious attempt to connect China with Europe, Asia and Africa through multi-billion pound infrastructure projects.

However, concern has been raised that Beijing is seeking to push its strategic ambitions with its new brand of globalisation.

There are also worries that countries involved could be burdened with huge debt, as most of the funds are loans, rather than grants.

Britain is keen to sign a free trade deal with China when it exits the EU, and while Beijing has repeatedly expressed support for closer European integration, it has also said that Britain's withdrawal from the bloc would not affect ties.

Mr Hammond told the forum: "As China drives forward the Belt and Road initiative from the east, we in Britain are a natural partner in the west, standing ready to work with all Belt and Road partner countries to make a success of this initiative.

"As we embark on a new chapter in our history, as we leave the European Union, we want to maintain a close and open trading partnership with our European neighbours, and at the same time pursue our ambition to secure free trade agreements around the world with new partners and old allies alike."

Britain’s relations with China had reached a high under David Cameron’s Conservative government, with the then chancellor George Osborne pushing a ‘golden era’ of relations.

State-controlled media in Beijing had warned the UK’s "suspicious approach" over Hinkley Point could risk deterring future Chinese investment.

But relations have improved since, and Mr Hammond’s backing of the Belt and Road initiative would be warmly received by Chinese leaders.

Some observers have welcomed the scheme for attempting to boost multilateral trade at a time when US president Donald Trump promotes "America first”.

But India – which has strategic concerns over the project –  also said it could create an "unsustainable debt burden" with the countries involved.

Christopher Balding, an economics professor at Peking University, reiterated the point, saying on Twitter: "People are missing that this is NOT free money: these are debts incurred by these countries owed to China."

Mr Xi said Beijing will not engage in geopolitical "games between foes” with his signature foreign policy project, which he launched in 2013.

"What we hope to create is a big family of harmonious co-existence,” he told the forum.

"China is willing to share its development experience with all countries. We will not interfere in other countries' internal affairs. We will not export our system of society and development model, and even more will not impose our views on others.”