The UK is using the tumbling value of the pound to tell Chinese investors there are bargains to be had in post-Brexit Britain.

 

 

“Sterling has depreciated, assets are very well priced,” said the minister who also took time to reassure key existing investors such as Huawei, the telecoms equipment maker, and China General Nuclear, the energy group.

 

 

“Now is the time to start exploring options” on trade agreements, he said, and it would be up to the British prime minister who succeeds David Cameron to determine the order in which agreements would be negotiated.

 

Post-Brexit Britain will have more latitude to negotiate trade agreements with other countries including China — the two are in the middle of a self-declared “golden year” of ties. “China is making very positive noises at the moment,” said Lord Price. 

 

He Wenwei, director of the research centre for European and American Studies at the Beijing China Association of International Trade, said the UK was a “special case” but neighbouring countries were likely to come first on the free trade agenda. “I cannot specify when this [negotiations with the UK] would happen,” said Mr He, but Britain could expect to negotiate a free trade deal with China faster than the EU could “because it’s just one country”.