On 10 July 2024, H.E. Ambassador Zheng Zeguang attended the reception to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Great Britain-China Centre at invitation and delivered an address titled "Building More Bridges of Communication and Cooperation". Catherine West, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Sir David Lidington, Honorary President of GBCC, Sir Martin Davidson KCMG, Chair of GBCC, and over 200 representatives from the political, business, and academic sectors attended the event.
Ambassador Zheng commended GBCC for its relentless efforts over the past 50 years in bringing the peoples of China and the UK together and promoting cooperation between the two governments. He pointed out that the past 50 years has witnessed phenomenal changes in our respective societies and around the world, providing a lot of food for thought as we reflect on good diplomacy, and China-UK relations. Good diplomacy is about promoting friendship and connecting people. Due to various factors, engagement and communication between the two governments were far from enough. This has to be rectified as a matter of urgency. China welcomes more governmental engagement and interactions between the two sides, and hopes to see more British tourists and students in China. Good diplomacy is also about managing difficult issues and creating opportunities to work together. The right way to address differences is to respect each other's core interests, and through dialogue and consultation minimise their disturbance to the overall relationship. We all know from facts that there is ample space for cooperation between China and the UK across a wide range of areas. China-UK cooperation can help both countries grow economy, bring down the cost of living, raise productivity and accelerate the green transition, and can also contribute to addressing global challenges and the settlement of regional and international hotspot issues.
Ambassador Zheng stated that, in his congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Premier Li Qiang stressed that China is ready to work with the UK to consolidate political mutual trust and expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and intensify people-to-people exchanges, in an effort to to drive economic and social development in our respective countries and promote world peace, stability and prosperity. We hope to see more organisations like GBCC to help build bridges of communication and cooperation between our two countries. We are ready to work together with friends from all walks of life in the UK to deepen the mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples and bring China-UK relations onto the track of steady development.
Sir David Lidington and Sir Martin Davidson also delivered remarks. They recounted the 50-year history of GBCC, emphasising its commitment to furthering dialogue and exchanges between various sectors of the two countries, and to contributing to the healthy and steady development of China-UK relations.
GBCC was established in 1974 and is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Its purpose is to promote dialogue and cooperation between the governmental departments, civil societies, and businesses of China and the UK.
