Tighter ties seen between Guangdong and UK

A total of 111,575 visas were issued at United Kingdom visa application centers in Guangzhou and Shenzhen during a twelve-month period ending in June last year. About 97 percent of Chinese nationals who apply for a UK visa are successful.

The number of UK visas issued to Chinese nationals across China continued to rise from Sept 2016 to Sept 2017, with 666,000 visas issued, a 20 percent increase over the previous twelve months. Around 567,000 were tourism or short-term study visas, according to the British consulate general in Guangzhou.

Commercial agreements worth over 2 billion pounds （$2.77 billion） were signed at an investment conference in London opened by former Guangdong provincial Party secretary Hu Chunhua during his visit in the UK in June last year.

"Since his visit, we are following up over 30 new collaborations with our Chinese provincial partners," said Karen Maddocks, British consul general in Guangzhou.

The UK's Minister for International Trade came to Guangdong in early January.

"We are seeing a continuing healthy dialogue between the UK and Guangdong at senior government levels, and our business links are going from strength to strength," Maddocks said.