As UK foreign minister David Lammy visits China, Jack Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club, tells CGTN that he has a lot of work to do to rebuild a relationship
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00:00Well, I think there's a public format that everyone will be able to see and I think that's important to be able to have that dialogue but also in a closed room to be able to say what are you not happy with from the past government in the UK and how are we going to be different.
00:16I think this is a complete amazing opportunity to reset because in China they look 30 years ahead because the leadership doesn't change as often.
00:26They have that capability to do so. In the UK we switch every 4 to 5 years. So it is almost a complete reset and saying we weren't the people from the past, we're different.
00:37In what sectors do you anticipate the most immediate opportunities for the business community?
00:43Well, on a basic line, the relationship between China and the UK has not been good. It's not been the golden age or the era. So I think we need to step slowly and take those steps together, holding each other's hand in areas that we're both comfortable with.
00:57So I think if you look at green energy, green technology, hydrogen energy, which is a big focus for both of us, and advanced manufacturing. If you look at China at the moment, high productive forces, high quality development, those are the areas we can focus in.
01:13But we need to be clear what we're comfortable in doing with China. We can't go into areas that in 2 years' time we're going to stop that investment. So clarity is the most important thing here.
01:26The UK is looking for more investment. The country just held the International Investment Forum 2024, hoping to attract more investment to the UK. And China had very little presence at the event.
01:41Yeah. I mean, if you came to tea at my house and I wasn't very nice to you, would you come back? No. So let's be honest about it. We haven't been available with our manners for that China will be wanting to come and sit there and have tea with us and have discussions.
02:01I mean, that's just simple. We need to show that we're willing to work with China. It's inevitable that things will go wrong. That's OK. Those things happen. But we need to be able to sit together and say, we want to work with you. That's OK. But the action from that is highly important. And when LAMY comes back, it's what happens after that, which everyone will be looking at.