UK cannot afford to give ‘cold shoulder’ to China, says City minister

Bim Afolami says if the UK hesitates too much ‘our competitors will write our future for us’. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

The UK cannot afford to give the “cold shoulder” to China, the City minister said on Monday, in comments that will distance the British government from the Biden administration’s protectionist crackdown.

Addressing financial services bosses at the City Week conference in London’s Guildhall, Bim Afolami said it was “crucial” to engage with strategic competitors such as Beijing, and that the UK risked losing control of its economic future if it failed to find common ground.