UK pioneer's son exhilarated by Xi's message

Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club, a London-based trade organization, said he could not hide what he called "exhilaration" when listening to President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter issued and read on Thursday that endorses generations of British business pioneers like his father Jack Perry, who engaged in trade with China in the 1950s.

Jack Perry and another 15 entrepreneurs from the United Kingdom embarked on a historic "Icebreaking Mission" to China in 1953, helping open up commercial ties amid the West's frozen trade relations with the newly founded People's Republic of China four years prior.

His son Stephen succeeded the chairmanship of the 48 Group Club from his father in the 1990s and has since worked as an advocate for greater business ties with China.

Xi's message was read by Vice-President Han Zheng at a major ceremony held on Thursday in Beijing to mark the Icebreaking Mission's 70th anniversary. The son of Stephen Perry also attended the event.

"It gave me a great deal of exhilaration to be an icebreaker. My son, who was there as well … I was inspired to make his name as an 'icebreaker'," Stephen Perry said. "When you're an icebreaker, you feel a certain sense of completeness of your soul."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday that the world needs the great foresight and courage of the "icebreakers" at a difficult time when globalization is suffering from headwinds and voices advocating economic decoupling or "de-risking" are rising.

Observers noted that trade has been made a major highlight of overall China-UK ties as total bilateral trade volume exceeded $100 billion last year.

Beijing has recently maintained high-level contacts with London, including Han's trip to the UK on behalf of Xi to attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles III in May.

"The Chinese leaders have more vision about the future and they are committed to working with the UK," Perry said. "China is trying very hard with the UK. They wanted to be successful. And so they see lots of British people."

When asked about his observation on China's future trade landscape given the lingering economic and trade frictions with economies including the United States, Perry said he is sure that "China is moving its quality higher and higher and trying to make goods which represent a high added value".

"China's trade will increase more with Asia than with Europe or America in the current circumstances," he said, noting that there is already a significant statistical increase in China's trade with other Asian countries.

Commenting on Washington's seeking competition and its tense ties with China, Perry said, "The conditions now are difficult because of the Americans".

"They make a lot of trouble for China and they're frightened of China. They don't want to see China rise too fast, too far. And they think that China will be a hegemony, China will want to have an empire," he said.

"I don't think the American fear is realistic, but I understand that they have it. And because they became an empire, they think others will have the same thought as theirs," he added.

He expects the US "will eventually accept and negotiate with China some new ways of looking at the world, making it successful and peaceful".

"Between now and then it might be difficult," he said.