'Serious engagement is back' delegates hear at China-UK export event

Sebastian Wood, chair of the China-Britain Business Council, added that it is "unusual" for one country to organize an event to promote the host country's exports to its own market.

"The normal thing when a trade minister goes traveling is to promote their country's exports," he said. "It also reminds us that China is committed to boosting consumption as a proportion of GDP, and serious about encouraging foreign exporters to help realize that ambition."

When it comes to frictions arising from trade surpluses, Wood told China Daily there are both constructive and counterproductive ways to address them.

"The bad way to solve it would be to put up barriers and try to keep Chinese imports out," he said. "If you do that, you simply make goods for your own consumers … more expensive, and you raise costs for companies. If the UK were to do that, we would make our own economy less competitive.

"The better way to do it is to actively seek to rebalance the relationship in a constructive way, by boosting exports from the UK to China, and also encouraging Chinese investment into the UK … Protectionism is not the answer."