The UK is China's second largest European trading partner. British exports to China last year, at £3.72 billion were up 17% on the year 2000. China's exports to Britain are at an all-time high. Many Chinese enterprises now regard Britain's flexible and open economy has an ideal launching pad into the wider European market. All this is a far cry from 1972, when the UK and the PRC first exchanged Ambassadors. Then, there were virtually no Chinese students in Britain. Today, there are over 20,000--one of the largest overseas communities at our universities.
英國是中國在歐洲的第二大貿(mào)易伙伴。去年英國對華出口額達達37.2億英鎊,比2000年增長17%。中國對英國的出口達創(chuàng)記錄水平。許多中國企業(yè)現(xiàn)在把英國靈活、開放的經(jīng)濟看作進軍更大的歐洲市場的理想跳板。這一切與與1972年英中兩國首次互換大使時的情景大不相同。當時,英國幾乎沒有中國學生,而今天有兩萬多,是英國大學中人數(shù)最多的海外群體。