‘Understanding China’ requires full resumption of formal exchanges, British business chamber says

British business group in China stresses the urgency of rebuilding lines of communication and dialogue between multinationals and Chinese authorities

Lengthy quarantines for inbound travellers to China remain in place, and British firms operating there say that bringing in foreign staff is among their biggest challenges

Reading Time:2 minutes

The British Chamber of Commerce in China says multinational firms in the country are taking a wait-and-see approach amid speculation over a further easing of coronavirus controls. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 14 Dec 2022Updated: 10:56pm, 14 Dec 2022

British businesses in China are calling for more open dialogue between the two countries – at all levels – to bridge the information gap and address the concerns of foreign investors who are bracing for uncertainties in the lead-up to China’s eventual reopening.

There has been a stark lack of understanding and disconnect between the China offices of British businesses and their headquarters in the UK, largely due to China being shut off from the rest of the world when other countries are beginning to open up, Rachel Tsang, deputy director at the British Chamber of Commerce in China, told the Post on Tuesday.

“In the past three years, because of Covid, we haven’t seen any sort of state visits, any sort of formal dialogues between the two countries, and actually that is very important in terms of understanding China. And that is not just on the government-to-government level, it’s also the people-to-people exchange and business-to-business exchange,” she said.

Tsang noted that before the global pandemic broke out, bilateral visits by leaders of the two countries were frequent, and now she says it’s urgent to rebuild on these open dialogues and to resume engagement going into 2023, and for businesses to regain confidence in collaboration.

Recent changes to China’s coronavirus-control policies were welcomed by the businesses on the ground and have shed some positive light on the sentiments of British companies operating in China, the chamber said following an annual survey published last week that showed a record high 42 per cent of businesses were pessimistic about their prospects for next year, way up from just 9 per cent in last year’s survey.

Earlier this month, Beijing announced a new phase in its virus-control efforts, easing testing and quarantine requirements while dropping health codes.

However, lengthy quarantines for inbound travellers to China are still in place, and multinationals in China say that bringing in foreign staff is among their biggest challenges.