The UK is China's second largest European trading partner. British exports to China last year, at ￡3.72 billion were up 17% on the year 2000. China's exports to Britain are at an all-time high. Many Chinese enterprises now regard Britain's flexible and open economy has an ideal launching pad into the wider European market. All this is a far cry from 1972, when the UK and the PRC first exchanged Ambassadors. Then, there were virtually no Chinese students in Britain. Today, there are over 20,000--one of the largest overseas communities at our universities.

英国是中国在欧洲的第二大贸易伙伴。去年英国对华出口额达达37.2亿英镑，比2000年增长17%。中国对英国的出口达创记录水平。许多中国企业现在把英国灵活、开放的经济看作进军更大的欧洲市场的理想跳板。这一切与与1972年英中两国首次互换大使时的情景大不相同。当时，英国几乎没有中国学生，而今天有两万多，是英国大学中人数最多的海外群体。