“China has always been committed to dealing with the China-Britain relationship and China-EU relationship, and pushing ahead with them from a strategic height and a long-term perspective”.
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London and Beijing have both proclaimed a new “golden era” of relations between the former imperial power – whose forces repeatedly invaded China in the 19th century – and the rising Asian giant, now the world’s second-largest economy.
Business confidence among entrepreneurs in China has picked up for the first time in more than two years in the second quarter of 2016, according to surveys by the People´s Bank of China published on Friday.
Though China and Britain have a history of disputes over human rights and the future of the former British colony of Hong Kong, export-reliant China values Britain as a strong advocate for free trade within the European Union and the bloc as an important counterweight to the United States.
Geo-strategically, he said, it was “an extraordinary opportunity to peel off a very close United States ally, in fact the closest USA ally in Europe”.
One of China’s most influential and widely read newspapers, the Global Times, went further in its view on the referendum, saying that if Britain votes to leave the European Union, then the country will lose its influence globally.
“If a central bank has multiple objectives, it may be harder to be immune from the political reality”, Zhou said in a lecture at the International Monetary Fund.
“If the United Kingdom votes to leave, it will become an Atlantic orphan and lose its special relationship with the EU”.
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The People’s Bank of China has already made “appropriate contingency plans” in connection with the British vote, it said in an online statement.
