LONDON — Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle will travel to China next week as Britain eyes closer economic ties with the Asian superpower.

The chair of the Financial Conduct Authority is also expected to travel to the country as Prime Minister Keir Starmer leads a delegation of roughly 50 C-suite leaders and chairs from business and cultural institutions.

Executives from HSBC, Standard Chartered, and the London Stock Exchange Group have been invited. The guest list is heavily weighted towards financial services.

The trip comes as the government faces growing international pressure to take a tougher line on Chinese industrial overcapacity — and a backlash back home over its recent decision to approve a super-embassy near the Tower of London despite a raft of security concerns.  

“It’s substantially important for businesses,” said a senior business representative, granted anonymity to speak about the preparations. “In terms of conversation and talk, there’s a step change under the new government,” they said, arguing Labour had made swift progress since coming to office. Some firms “weren’t able to engage with the Chinese government at all 12 months ago,” they noted.

Industry executives familiar with the talks said the U.K. has been pushing for a Memorandum of Understanding covering services trade, as well as recognition of professional qualifications for accountants, designers, and architects — and visa-free access to China for Brits making short-term business trips.

The U.K. is also hopeful of positive movement on whisky tariffs, according to two of the industry figures. In February 2025, China doubled its import tariffs on brandy and whisky, removing its provisional 5 percent tariff and applying the 10 percent most-favored-nation rate.

Market push

British and Chinese financial regulators are due to meet in Beijing to advance work to link up the London stock market with markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as tackling cross-border data sharing issues.

The Stock Connect initiative opened up both markets to investors in 2019 which, according to FCA Chair Ashley Alder, led to listings worth almost $6 billion on the London Stock Exchange.  

“Technical obstacles have so far prevented us from realizing Stock Connect’s full potential,” Alder said in a speech in May last year.   

He pointed to the Memorandum of Understanding being developed between the FCA and China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration as “critical to provide the mechanisms needed to share information swiftly, supervise firms effectively across borders, and promote market openness,” with “fast and efficient exchange of data [being] vital to manage the risks.” 

“The goods wins are easier,” said the senior business representative. “Some of the service ones are more difficult. The issues that financial services firms have in China [are] around access to sensitive data and the transfer of money.”

The U.K. also hopes to be the latest country to join China’s visa-free list, which would enable British citizens to travel for short-term business trips, exchanges, or holidays without applying for a visa.  

There are 48 countries currently on the list, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Sweden.

The Treasury, Department for Business and Trade and FCA did not respond to a request for comment.