The Great Britain-China Centre (GBCC) held a virtual exchange with the Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs in May 2022.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ambassadorial relations between the UK and the People’s Republic of China, both sides reflected on people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between arm’s length bodies over the past 50 years.
Discussions of past examples of cooperation covered a range of issue areas; from trade and art to technical cooperation on legal reform. Looking towards the future, participants emphasised the challenges to the continuation of such cooperation in a changing international environment. Nevertheless, areas such as global net zero ambitions, demographic change and public health were identified as areas in which people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between arm’s length bodies can serve to complement government-level interaction.
In the interest of facilitating diverse and impactful conversations, the importance of reverting to in-person dialogues as soon as China’s pandemic management policies permit was also stressed.