UK expert: China will share its prosperity with the world

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the B20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on September 3, 2016. [Photo/Xu Jingxing]

China is the perfect country to bridge rich and poor, online and offline, developed and developing, said Clare Pearson, chairwoman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China.

"The speech of President Xi shows China is moving from sideline to central in global governance. By literally and metaphorically building bridges across the new Silk Road, China will share its prosperity with the world," she said after listening to Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech on Saturday at the Business 20 (B20) summit in Hangzhou. Xi stressed reform and opening-up, innovation, a green economy, poverty elimination and many other topics.

Pearson said she was quite impressed by China's resolution to grow green development.

"I think the keynote of the speech is 'quality, not quantity'. I think all companies need to clean their mind and adopt this philosophy for sustainable business," she said.

For Chinese it means a switch from carbon-based energy to renewable. For foreign companies it means cooperating with China to move up the value chain, that is, how to produce more with less, she said.

She said the UK is a leader in environmental protection and renewable energy. Manchester used to have "pea-soupers", that is, thick, polluted air, when it was the factory of the world. But today Manchester is a livable city.

She said that the UK has to share its journey with China on how to move from industrial country to clean technology leader. It's a potentially win-win situation for both countries.