China won’t hang around if we leave the EU - as the CBI knows
Outlook
Your support helps us to tell the story
As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.
Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.
Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election
Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
You won’t have been able to miss the fact that the Chinese leader Xi Jinping is in town – and being feted wherever he goes by a Government desperate for him to sign on the dotted line for a trade deal or two.
That it is more than a decade since the last Chinese leader stopped by speaks volumes for the amount of behind-the- scenes wooing that has been going on. Ministers and their officials been batting their eyes at an ocean of Chinese capital – catnip to an investment-needy nation.
So it is rather timely that the Confederation of British Industry has chosen Wednesday to make the case for Britain staying in the European Union – albeit an EU that has been subjected to a reform process.
The employers’ organisation has produced a report featuring contributions from 29 members, stressing the numerous benefits that business derives from Britain’s membership. Chief among these are ease of access to a “market of 500 million consumers” and the international investment that pours in as a result – including the Chinese investment that our Government desperately wants to attract more of.
Eurosceptics fondly believe that a UK free from the EU’s supposed “yoke” will be able to develop favourable trading links with the world’s most dynamic economies, of which China is still one despite its recent troubles. They ignore the point that the UK’s chief attraction to those economies is its membership of the EU.
If they get their wish and there is a Brexit, there may also be a Chi-exit – and that may be just the start of it. The CBI knows this but the Government still refuses to see it.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments