UK's Osborne: Preserve ties to China, EU

George Osborne insists the United Kingdom needs to achieve the closest possible relationship with the European Union after Brexit, if it is not to deter Chinese investors.

The former UK chancellor of the exchequer - who was a key architect of the new "golden era" of UK-China relations - said many invested in the British economy as a "jumping off point" to gain access to Europe.

"I strongly believe it is in Britain's interest, Europe's interests and, indeed, more broadly in the interests of the world economy that our relationship with Europe is as strong as it can be outside of the EU," he said.

Osborne, who was speaking exclusively to China Daily in only his second interview since leaving office in July, is set to resist any move toward a so-called hard Brexit, which would mean Britain leaving the European single market but having control of its immigration borders.

While British Prime Minister Theresa May signaled this might be her preferred option in her speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham in October, the UK's High Court ruled Thursday that lawmakers should vote on whether the government can begin the formal Brexit process.

Experts have said Parliament is unlikely to block Brexit, but it could delay it and influence the deal that's reached.

Osborne said: "The British people have decided to leave the EU. They weren't asked to decide what new relationship with Europe (they wanted to have). I suspect that issue will be an absolutely dominant one in Parliament and you can't be a member of Parliament without being involved in it."

Osborne also addressed concerns that some Chinese companies were now deferring their investment plans.

In a recent EY Global Capital Barometer survey, 53 percent of Chinese respondents were less confident about investing in the UK given the current uncertainty.

Almost a third, or $5.1 billion, of the $18 billion Chinese investment in the EU in 2014 went to the UK.

"We now need to do everything we can to avoid some of the dangers and difficulties that Brexit might offer up to our country. And one of those things is making sure it doesn't deter foreign investment, including from China," he said.

The new "golden era" of relations between the UK and China seemed endangered in the summer when May called for a review of the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, in which there was to be substantial Chinese investment.

It was one of the main investments announced during President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK in October of last year. It has since, however, been given the go-ahead.

"I thought it was extremely encouraging that after looking at the facts and the details of the Hinkley Point nuclear power decision, the current government decided to proceed with that deal that I'd worked on with China and with France, as a great example of how China and the West can work together," he said.

Osborne, who first came to China as backpacker in the mid-1990s, said developing closer links between the UK and China was now his personal mission.

"I am going to continue arguing for that strong China relationship and economic partnership for that golden era and making sure that on a fairly regular basis I am getting myself to China to see what is happening in that remarkable country."