SONG CHEN/CHINA DAILY
Last year, President Xi Jinping had two telephone conversations with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and charted the course for further advancing Sino-British relations. In February 2021, Premier Li Keqiang delivered a speech, via video link, at a New Year banquet held by the United Kingdom's 48 Group Club, encouraging Chinese and British peoples to strengthen the "icebreaker" spirit.
And on July 6, Premier Li and British business representatives held a successful dialogue, through video link, which greatly encouraged and supported Chinese and British business communities to advance practical cooperation, reflecting his eagerness to champion Sino-British friendship.
With long histories and splendid cultures, China and the UK are important representatives of Eastern and Western civilizations. Exchanges between the peoples of the two countries go back a long time in history. At the beginning of the 1950s, when Western countries imposed embargo on trade with China, visionary British businessmen led by Jack Perry overcame many obstacles to make an ice-breaking trip to China, with the support of the older generation of revolutionaries, including then Premier Zhou Enlai. They not only "broke the ice" to trade with New China, but also left us with a rich heritage of China-UK friendship and exchanges.