China lifts UK beef ban after 20 years
Print Edition
CHINA has lifted a ban on importing British beef lasting more than 20 years that was triggered by the mad cow disease outbreak, the UK government said yesterday.
China has lifted its ban on exports of beef from the UK, “in a landmark move for British producers estimated to be worth 250 million pounds (US$329 million) in the first five years alone,” said a statement.
The announcement comes two days after China lifted a ban on French beef imposed more than a decade ago.
Announcing an end to the British ban, the UK government said: “More than 20 years after the Chinese government first imposed a ban on British beef in the wake of the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) outbreak, today’s milestone is the culmination of several years of site inspections and negotiations between UK and Chinese government officials.”
Environment Secretary Michael Gove called it “fantastic news,” allowing the country to “be a truly outward looking Britain outside the European Union.”
China is the UK’s eighth-largest export market for agri-food, with more than 560 million pounds worth of food and drink bought by Chinese consumers last year, the department for environment, food and rural affairs said.
Also yesterday, British finance minister Philip Hammond wrote in Chinese financial magazine Caixin that Britain is committed to promoting free and open trade, and hopes to seize “unlimited opportunities” brought by China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Hammond is visiting Beijing this week, the latest installment in long-running economic talks between the two countries, which have taken on new importance for Britain as it looks to re-invent itself as a global trading nation after leaving the EU in 2019.
Hammond’s trip also comes against the backdrop of increasingly fraught trade relations between China and the United States, with Beijing accusing Washington of protectionism.
China has been looking for support from European countries to seek common ground against the US, which is also locked in a separate trade dispute with the EU.
“During this visit to China, I will meet with Chinese leaders in order to clearly convey a message to the outside world — as a firm supporter of trade liberalization and a free market, the United Kingdom is China’s long-term trusted partner,” Hammond wrote.
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