ZCZC
BCN-20
CHINA-BRITAIN-EU-BREXIT-TRADE
UK’s Hunt welcomes China’s offer of talks on post-Brexit trade deal
BEIJING, July 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
said Monday he welcomed China’s offer of talks on a post-Brexit trade deal as
he visited Beijing to try to strengthen ties before next year’s divorce from
Europe.
Hunt, appointed earlier this month, was in the Chinese capital to meet
Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other top officials, on a trip that will also
include stops in Paris and Vienna for talks with his European counterparts on
Brexit.
“We discussed the offer made by Foreign Minister Wang to open discussion
of a possible free-trade deal done between Britain and China, post-Brexit,”
Hunt said at a joint press conference.
“We welcome this and said that we will explore it.”
Britain is assessing its post-Brexit trade options. London is already
moving ahead with plans to negotiate a free-trade deal with the United States
as soon as it leaves the European Union, International Trade Secretary Liam
Fox said last week.
It also was revealed last week that May was sending ministers to the 27
other member states of the EU to try to broker back-door agreements after
Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier raised reservations about her
Brexit plan.
An agreement in principle on Britain’s departure from the European trading
bloc — set for March 29, 2019 — must be reached before a Europe summit in
mid-October.
Hunt said he and Wang had “very constructive” talks in Beijing but neither
gave any further details.
Hunt said that during their talks he also raised the issue of Briton
Michael Simpson, who was stabbed to death by his estranged Chinese wife in
Shanghai late last year, according to British media reports.
Simpson’s two young children are in the custody of his wife’s family now
that their mother has been jailed.
Simpson’s British family has been trying to obtain custody of the children
but have been stymied by the courts and the wife’s relatives, according to
the BBC and other reports.
“We also raised consular cases, including that of the Simpson children.
Foreign Minister Wang said he would look into that case while also still
respecting the independence of China’s judicial system,” Hunt said.
Hunt was due to meet Premier Li Keqiang later in the day.
BSS/AFP/HR/1330