Ex-Treasury minister: 'critically important' UK takes advantage of Belt & Road

Britain's former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said the UK should actively participate in China's Belt and Road initiatives for the economy to prosper outside of the European Union.

"We have to be more imaginative about how we take advantage of the One Belt, One Road initiative. It is the biggest potential infrastructure project of its kind around the globe," Byrne, Labor MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, said on Monday of President Xi Jinping's land and maritime infrastructure development plans for Eurasia.

Byrne, author of Turning to Face the East: How Britain Can Prosper in the Asian Century, added: "For centuries the Silk Road was pivotal to our own commerce. Now there has not been any bold, imaginative response to One Belt, One Road. If you look at history, we made fortunes by being at the other end of the Silk Road. This is critically important."

Byrne was speaking from the House of Commons at a discussion on the UK-China relationship in the wake of Britain's referendum on EU membership, put on by socialist think tank The Fabian Society International Policy Group.

Byrne forecast that Brexit negotiations would take several years, and in the interim Britain would be a target for opportunistic investors.

"It's going to be in the mid-2020s before things begin to crystalize, so there will be this period of half-Brexit if you like," he said. "The pound during that phase is going to collapse. I've talked to a lot of Chinese investors, and Britain is a great place for the Chinese to invest in right now because you can pick stuff up for a lot cheaper. In Birmingham, the West Midlands and the North, Chinese investment is already very popular."

Professor Rana Mitter, Director of the China Center at the University of Oxford, predicted that the UK government would have to be far more conciliatory with China on a number of bilateral issues including visa regulation as it negotiates as a stand-alone nation.

"If Britain finds itself outside of the EU with a free hand in negotiations, there are certainly things Britain has to offer that China would be interested in," Mitter said at the debate. "But I think it would be unwise of us to overplay our hand, considering the size of the Chinese market and also the relative Chinese interest in one country rather than a block of 28."

To contact the reporter: angus@mail.chinadailyuk.com