Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Leaders from the UK and China will gather in London to set out a new vision for UK-China relations and to deepen the connections between our people.
Watch Ambassador Barbara Woodward discuss the relationship between our 2 countries
Barbara Woodward discusses the UK-China relationship and the P2P
Looking ahead to the P2P Barbara Woodward, UK Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China, said:
The UK-China relationship is in great shape at the moment. We have an opportunity to discuss a very wide range of people-to-people exchanges. That includes education, health, tourism, science, it includes gender issues as well, culture, all sorts of things fall under the people to people dialogue. Theyre the things that really sustain the relationship between our 2 countries.
We know from our visa figures that visitors from China to the UK increased 24% last year. Student numbers from China to the UK increased 17% and thats the really important achievement of the P2P that people are exchanging things.
I think the future for the UK-China relationship is very exciting and weve already established a golden era in UK-China relations. I think well see a deepening and broadening of our overlapping interests with China, and opportunities for building a very bright future together.
People connections
The UK is home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe and half a million people of Chinese descent live in the UK. Over 20,000 British people moved to China last year.
Each year thousands of news connections are made between Chinese and British people. Find out more:
Business and trade
Trade between the UK and China was worth nearly 60 billion in 2016, and China has the worlds largest e-commerce market, and the worlds largest car market.
China is a key business partner for the UK. Find out more: