Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits the House of UK in Shanghai, China on January 30, 2026. Photo: VCG

Following British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent four-day visit to China, a series of two-way investment plans came into the spotlight. In a statement over the weekend, the Prime Minister's Office highlighted several key deals involving Chinese firms such as POP MART, Chery Commercial Vehicles, and HiTHIUM, alongside British pharmaceutical leader AstraZeneca, showcasing tangible economic and trade outcomes from the trip.

Specifically, POP MART has confirmed plans to establish London as its regional hub, with up to seven stores in the UK. Chery Commercial Vehicles said that it will open its European headquarters in Liverpool, aimed at supporting the local green supply chain and creating jobs. HiTHIUM's investment will bring 200 million pounds ($275.2 million) and 300 high-quality jobs in the energy storage sector. British pharmaceutical leader AstraZeneca has committed 15 billion pounds investment to expand innovative R&D programs in China, according to Downing Street.

These concrete developments reflect the broader economic potential of a pragmatic and mutually beneficial China-UK relationship.

Amid intensifying trade protectionism in some parts of the world, both China and the UK remain committed to free trade and to upholding the multilateral trading system.

As stated by a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce last week, the two sides will work to leverage their complementary strengths and pursue mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation, promote the coordinated development of goods and services trade, advance two-way investment, and continuously expand cooperation in areas such as green energy, healthcare, creative industries, and intelligent manufacturing.

The cooperation is underpinned by robust economic ties. Data shows that in 2025, China-UK bilateral trade in goods reached $103.7 billion, while trade in services is expected to exceed $30 billion. The stock of two-way investment stood at nearly $68 billion.

The deepening of China-UK trade and investment cooperation follows a clear underlying economic logic. The UK has strengths in fields such as finance, science and technology, and education, while China possesses a huge market, a complete industrial chain and efficient manufacturing capacity. The complementarity of advantages between the two sides has laid a solid foundation for cooperation.

AstraZeneca's continued investment in China, for instance, stems not only from the strong demand in China's healthcare market, but also from its confidence in China's comprehensive potential in R&D and industrial chains, seeking to accelerate innovation through cooperation.

Meanwhile, investments by Chinese companies in the UK have created jobs and injected new industrial momentum into key sectors. This demonstrates that upholding the multilateral trading system and working toward synergistic development in goods trade, services trade, and two-way investment aligns with the fundamental interests of both countries.

From a broader perspective, this kind of pragmatic and mutually beneficial investment cooperation between China and the UK serves as an illustration of the role of China's outward investment.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, in 2025, China's non-financial outward direct investment maintained steady growth in recent years, with investment in Europe growing by 20.9 percent year-on-year.

China's outward investment is never a simple capital outflow, but also carries technology, concepts, and development opportunities. While driving local industrial development and improving people's livelihood, these investments always take into account the common interests of both cooperation parties, fully integrating China's market and industrial advantages with the resource advantages and locational advantages of partner countries, and realizing the sharing of markets, technologies and development.

This pragmatic investment model that takes into account multiple parties and focuses on actual results has enabled China to always play a constructive role to shore up economic globalization.

China's high-level opening-up has always been a two-way process that equally emphasizes "bringing in" and "going global." The high-quality development of outward investment and the continuous optimization of foreign capital introduction complement each other, jointly forming a bridge connecting China with the world.

Lately, from Europe to North America, political leaders from many countries have successively visited China or expressed willingness to do so. The growing diplomatic activity reflects that, as the global economic landscape continues to undergo profound adjustment, the path of cooperation between China and its trade and investment partners is widening. The high-quality development of China's outward investment will continue to serve as a constructive force, allowing more countries to share in the fruits of development through practical cooperation with China.