作者 安德鲁·凯恩爵士 英国贸易投资总署署长

北京初感：严寒却一片光明

英国仍需加强中国市场竞争力

冬日的北京依然寒冷，但天空晴朗，拥挤繁忙。车队从机场直奔酒店。简单梳洗淋浴后就迅速进入工作状态：准备会、同中国企业见面，然后直奔人民大会堂。在我们和中国政府反复协商下，英国企业代表团得以参加人民大会堂的主会议。通常，他们可没有这样的机会。

我们刚刚宣布任命一批新的商务大使。很高兴这一项目有更多成员参与了进来。新成员背景都很有趣。

这是我今年第四次中国之行，恰恰证明了贸易如流水——总是流向经济实力强的地方。

中国发展迅速，雄心勃勃，这仍然令我惊叹不已。在飞机上，我读了一本叫做《为何西方还在支配一切》（Why the West rules - for now）的书，十分精辟，作者是斯坦福的一名英国教授。然而世事无常，这种格局不一定长久。我学到的第一课就是我们需要加强竞争力。我想这也是我们赴北京参加中英峰会的主要目的。

待续

We Need to Compete Harder in Cold, Bright Beijing

Beijing - cold, bright and crowded. Motorcade whisks to hotel. Swift shave and shower then briefing, meeting Chinese companies and the Great Hall of the People. We have negotiated to get the business delegation in. Normally this is mandarin time.

Business Ambassadors announced. Good to relaunch the scheme with broader membership and new faces. They are an interesting lot.

My fourth trip to China this year. Proof that business, like water, flows and finds its own level - where the economic power is.

Still astonished at the speed of transformation and the sheer ambition here. Was reading on the plane a brilliant book called ‘Why the West rules - for now” by a British professor at Stanford. But nothing is for ever. The first lesson I take is that we need to compete harder. Guess that is what we are trying to do here this week.

To be continued...