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January 4, 2018

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Britain ‘will remain open’ after Brexit

Source: Agencies | 00:01 UTC+8 January 4, 2018 | Print Edition

BRITISH trade minister Liam Fox yesterday said London would continue to welcome foreign investment. He was speaking after the American rejection of China’s Ant Financial’s acquisition of MoneyGram.

Fox was on a visit to China, the latest installment in long-running economic talks between China and Britain, which has taken on new importance as the UK looks to reinvent itself as a global trading nation after Brexit.

Asked whether Britain would serve as an alternative destination for Chinese investment in the wake of the Ant Financial deal failure, Fox said he hoped the investment relationship would “work in two directions” but Britain would remain open.

“Of course, we would look, as other countries would do, at our security issues in terms of investment. But the UK has traditionally been an open country, welcoming of foreign direct investment,” he said.

China is one of the countries with which Britain hopes to sign a free trade pact once it leaves the European Union, and London and Beijing have been keen to show that Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc will not affect ties.

Fox said that the issue of China’s service sector openness was a “big issue” for Britain, but that there were more options than a post-Brexit free trade agreement to get Beijing to open, including specific service sector agreements and mutual recognition deals.

“There are a whole range of tools in the box. And people tend to talk as though an FTA is the only tool we have available in terms of trade liberalization. It’s not,” he said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to visit China later this month.

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