Rhys Whalley, Chair of the Manchester China Forum, highlights Greater Manchester’s long-term strategic approach to its relationship with China, emphasising strong civic ties and economic collaboration.
Speaking to CGTN’s Li Jianhua, Whalley insisted Manchester remains open for business to international partners, including China. He believes that direct engagement and collaboration are key to driving economic growth and keeping Manchester at the forefront of global innovation.
Speaking to CGTN’s Li Jianhua, Whalley insisted Manchester remains open for business to international partners, including China. He believes that direct engagement and collaboration are key to driving economic growth and keeping Manchester at the forefront of global innovation.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So, Greater Manchester has always seen the long-term strategic importance of China's.
00:12You may be aware there are already very strong, long-established civic links, so the relationship
00:19has always been a long-standing one.
00:23But I think also you can look to Greater Manchester in terms of its approach more broadly.
00:29It has always been a city region that has operated with a long-term mindset and vision.
00:37And that has meant that we've maintained a very consistent approach in the way that we've
00:42worked with our partners in China, something that I think very much resonates in China
00:49in terms of approach.
00:50Now, let me bring you back to 2015 and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Manchester back
00:55then, and you played a significant role in facilitating and preparing for the visit.
01:01So, can you share with us some of the behind-the-scenes efforts?
01:04Yes, of course.
01:06Well, as it won't surprise you to hear, that visit was quite some time in the planning.
01:14And of course, there were efforts across the UK and China bilaterally to really ensure
01:21that that visit was as impactful as possible.
01:25So, there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with partners in the embassy, but also politically
01:33at very senior levels, both on the UK and Chinese side, to ensure that we were able
01:39to ensure that Manchester was a part of that programme.
01:42And you may also have seen that that programme went on to include footballing components,
01:49which, again, I think in Manchester's context were very important elements, perhaps in swaying
01:56that visit and ensuring that Manchester was an important part of the state visit programme.
02:02Yes, I could imagine there must be a lot of back and forth, back and forth, and that probably
02:07we should bring him here or there.
02:10And how does Manchester's unique sectors, such as manufacturing and its culture, play
02:15into this visit?
02:16Greater Manchester is the fastest growing city region in the UK.
02:21You've seen growth across a diverse range of sectors, from tech.
02:28Greater Manchester has been voted the fastest growing European tech city, through to areas
02:34such as advanced manufacturing, materials, of course, 2D materials and graphene being
02:41a really important element of that.
02:44So the progress that has been made in those areas through to life sciences and health.
02:51And I think probably the last element of that, and probably the most important, is the road
02:55to net zero.
02:56So our collective ambitions to tackle the climate change emergency.
03:02And of course, Greater Manchester set out 2038 ambition to hit net zero.
03:10That is an incredibly aggressive target.
03:13It's 12 years ahead of the national target, but an area that, again, will present very
03:19significant opportunities for the UK and China to work together in addressing those challenges,
03:26but also in leveraging the technological advancements that we've seen being made in China.
03:32So you have touched upon a wide range of collaboration between Greater Manchester and China.
03:38And we're going to go back to some of the topics that you mentioned.
03:41And the visit also helped secure the direct flights between Manchester and Beijing.
03:47And it started in 2016.
03:49So over the past decade, how do you see these flights contribute to the expansion of business
03:55and trade of Greater Manchester?
03:57What we've seen since the establishment of those direct routes into Manchester and Beijing,
04:03but more recently, the launch of the Shanghai route last year between Manchester and Shanghai
04:11is that those routes have played a critical role in accelerating engagement across trade
04:18and investment.
04:20We saw rapid growth and expansion in exports.
04:23I think it was just shy of 50 percent growth in just a two-year period post the launch
04:30of the Manchester-Beijing route.
04:32We saw rapid growth in number of tourists coming into the region.
04:37And of course, you look at areas such as education.
04:40So connectivity plays a key role in bilateral ties.
04:44And Airport City Manchester is a prominent joint project or venture between China and
04:50Manchester and the UK.
04:52So aligning with Greater Manchester's ambition, shall I call it ambition, of becoming the
04:57Heathrow of the North.
04:59The project is not completed yet.
05:01So how do you see this collaboration impacting Greater Manchester's role as a trade in the
05:07foreseeable future?
05:08I'm sure you will have heard of various sort of iterations of whether it's the Northern
05:14Powerhouse or the levelling up agenda from previous governments.
05:19But fundamentally, at the heart of that is recognising the huge untapped potential for
05:28economic growth that we see in the northern cities of the United Kingdom.
05:33And of course, given the tremendous progress being made in China in innovation terms, it's
05:39critically important that we're able to do that for northern regions.
05:44And so the progress we've made with Beijing and Shanghai has been critical in driving
05:50that forward.
05:51So in a bigger context, China-UK relations have experienced some ups and downs we have
05:56seen.
05:57But starting this year, we have witnessed more high-level exchanges between the two
06:01countries.
06:02How do you see the reassessment of bilateral ties benefiting Greater Manchester's economy?
06:09So from a Greater Manchester perspective, of course, to see the improvements in the
06:14bilateral relationship, I think is going to be very beneficial in terms of our continued
06:20focus and engagement.
06:22But I would go back to the areas that I've outlined in terms of opportunities for deeper
06:28cooperation exchange.
06:29We've spoken about the climate change emergency and the opportunities that that presents for
06:36innovators in and around the net zero agenda.
06:39So how do we bring innovative technologies from both sides together to address some of
06:45those challenges?
06:46And you mentioned green transition, both the UK and China are committed to net zero.
06:51How do you think these two countries, or specifically Greater Manchester and some of the Chinese
06:56cities can work together in that field?
06:59Yeah.
07:00So, you know, there's a broad range of projects, net zero northwest and high net projects across
07:08areas from hydrogen, carbon capture through to leveraging battery technologies.
07:15You will have seen that the government has set out some really ambitious targets around
07:19house building.
07:20We want to make sure that our commitments in that space are also consistent within the
07:25context of those net zero targets.
07:27So huge number of opportunities across the board to collaborate in that space.
07:33But we know that some of the Chinese investments were removed from the critical infrastructure
07:38in the UK.
07:39So how do you persuade the Chinese investors to come over to Greater Manchester based on
07:44his past experience?
07:45So, as I said earlier, Greater Manchester has always been a very open, very welcoming
07:51city region to international investment.
07:54So I think the key, and this applies to China as well as any other major international player
08:00that is looking at coming and investing in the area, you know, ultimately it's about
08:05coming and seeing it firsthand.
08:09But you know, as I say, we're a very welcoming, we're a very open city region and that isn't
08:15going to change anytime soon.