China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) hosts a roundtable meeting with British enterprises in Beijing on January 22, 2026. Photo: MOFCOM

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) held a roundtable for British enterprises in Beijing on Thursday, during which the participating businesses interacted with the corresponding Chinese government officials, according to the MOFCOM on Friday.

Ling Ji, Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative, chaired the meeting. The meeting was attended by British trade commissioner for China Lewis Neal, as well as representatives from the China-Britain Business Council, Swire Group, HSBC, InterContinental Hotels Group, and about 30 British-funded companies and industry associations.

Relevant departments of the MOFCOM, the General Administration of Customs, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration also participated in and responded on site to issues and requests raised by companies.

Speaking at Thursday's meeting, Ling said that in recent years, China-UK economic and trade cooperation has grown steadily, demonstrating both resilience and vitality. With complementary industrial strengths, the two sides should continue to deepen trade and investment cooperation, uphold win-win cooperation, and give full play to the role of economic and trade ties as a stabilizer and driving force for China-UK relations, while jointly safeguarding a fair and reasonable international economic and trade order.

Ling noted that China's economy has made steady progress and is moving toward higher quality and innovation, providing broad development opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), China will focus on expanding opening-up in the services sector, said Ling, noting that as the UK is a major power in services trade, British enterprises are welcome to seize opportunities arising from China's independent opening-up of the services sector and expand investment in areas such as consumption, green transition, and technological innovation. China will work with the UK to advance cooperation in services and cultivate new growth drivers for bilateral economic and trade relations, said the official.

Neal said that economic and trade relations are of great importance to UK-China relations, and that the UK's modern industrial strategy aligns well with China's proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan, creating favorable conditions for expanding cooperation, according to the MOFCOM.

Also at the meeting, representatives of British enterprises said that the Chinese market has enormous potential and that the business environment continues to improve. The 15th Five-Year Plan has further strengthened their confidence in long-term investment and operations in China and will make positive contributions to the development of UK-China economic and trade relations, said business representatives.

Global Times