The UK-China Business Council resumed its work on Thursday in Beijing after an eight-year pause, with more than 60 British companies and 50 Chinese firms sitting down for direct talks on trade, investment and industrial cooperation.

The restart of the business council took place during UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China.

"The UK-China Business Council is the business centerpiece of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China. And this is a visit that has historic significance, ladies and gentlemen. It's eight years since a UK Prime Minister last came to China. It's definitely the right time," said Sebastian Wood, chair of the business council.

The China-UK goods trade now rivals the UK's trade with some of its closest traditional partners, and exceeds Britain's trade with many G7 economies.

"In 2025, bilateral trade exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars, up more than 5 percent year on year. Two-way investment also grew steadily, reaching over 30 billion dollars on each side," said Liu Bo, deputy director of the Department of European Affairs at China's Ministry of Commerce.

For some executives, the visit marks not just a normalization of business relations, but signals a deeper commitment from businesses on both sides.

"Eight years ago, we actually came, we were in China to bring our medicines to patients in China. And today we're very proud to announce, we're going to invest 100 billion yuan (about 14.38 billion U.S. dollars) in China over the next 4 years, 5 years until 2030, to continue building our presence in China for research and development, manufacturing, investment across the country," said Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca.

The revival of the UK-China Business Council was welcome news to delegates, even those whose businesses have thrived during the hiatus in council operations.

"I'm very honored to be here. As you know, Airbus knows China and China knows Airbus very well. So, we're ramping up to meet the demand in the market. China is our biggest customer in terms of country, so we are very happy to do business here," said John Harrison, chairman of Airbus.

"Prime Minister Starmer's visit and his meeting with President Xi earlier today mark an important milestone in further deepening the mutually beneficial relationship between the world's second and sixth largest economies. Now our presence here today points to that positive dynamic," said Brendan Nelson, chairman of HSBC.