China, UK shall complement respective strengths, achieve win-win results: ambassador

London — China and the United Kingdom (UK) must complement their respective strengths and achieve more win-win results, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Zheng Zeguang has said.

Addressing the 2024 UK-China Business Forum here on Wednesday, Zheng called on the business communities of both countries to work together to deepen cooperation in traditional areas, align development strategies, and tap into emerging areas.

The forum, organized by the China-Britain Business Council, a major business network promoting trade and investment with China in the UK, attracted nearly 200 representatives from the business communities of both countries.

In his keynote speech, Zheng introduced the main messages of the “two sessions” by using four keywords “confidence, development, openness and cooperation.” The two sessions, or the annual sessions of China’s top legislature and top political advisory body, were held earlier this month in Beijing.

Zheng said the main economic targets set by the government work report this year, including around 5 percent of GDP growth and over 12 million new urban jobs, have fully demonstrated China’s confidence in its economic prospects.

“The long-term trajectory of China’s economy remains positive,” said the ambassador, noting that the country enjoyed multiple strengths, including strong political leadership, a supersize market and a full-fledged industrial system.

The ambassador said China is firmly committed to advancing high-quality development and to the Chinese path to modernisation as it will pursue higher-standard opening up and promote mutual benefits.

“The Two Sessions stressed that China will stay committed to an independent foreign policy of peace and to peaceful development. We will remain firm in pursuing a strategy of opening up for mutual benefit,” he added.

Zheng said there is huge complementarity and cooperation potentials between China and the UK and people with insight from both countries must make concerted efforts for the development of stable and mutually-beneficial China-UK relations.