Helping British business succeed internationally, and strengthening the UK’s relationships across the world, is something I consider a personal mission, not just a professional obligation.

In early July 2025, I travelled to London as part of the fourth annual BritCham China Whitehall Doorknock, the flagship visit where the British Chambers of Commerce across China bring ground-level insights directly to the heart of UK policymaking.

This was my third consecutive Doorknock, and the most substantive yet. Five days. Across Parliament, the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, Whitehall, the Chinese Embassy, PwC, and the Bank of China. A genuinely extraordinary week of access, advocacy, and dialogue at the highest levels of UK-China engagement.

The Delegation

The 2025 delegation was led by newly elected BritCham China Chair Chris Torrens, and included myself as Chair of BritCham South China, Chair Emeriti Julian Fisher and Julian MacCormac, committee member and KPMG partner Daisy Shen, BritCham Southwest China advisor Mavis Yang, BritCham Shanghai advisory group member Carma Elliott, and BritCham China Managing Director Graeme Wallace, and Policy and Advocacy Manager Harry Bell.

A Week Built Around Access and Honesty

The week was anchored by the launch of the 2025 British Business in China Position Paper, our 7th annual edition, and our largest advocacy effort of the year. It was extremely well received. The level of access the delegation secured, from the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, and the Department for Business and Trade, to the FCDO and Parliament, is a reflection of how far the Chamber’s advocacy work has come.

We opened the week at Portcullis House, Westminster, meeting with Tony Vaughan MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary China Group, alongside Sojan Joseph MP and parliamentary staffers, making the case that engagement with China is good for British business and does not compromise UK national security. It was also great to reconnect with the team at the British Chambers of Commerce HQ, and to sit down with Steven Lynch MBE in his new role as Director of International Trade, with plans for a Supply Chain Resilience Week in South China already in motion.

From there, the week built into something remarkable. We met with Chinese Ambassador H.E. Zheng Zeguang at the Chinese Embassy, reaffirming a shared commitment to commercial dialogue, Ambassador Zheng and I ensured that we didn’t forget to get our annual photo together!

We had productive sessions with Cathryn Law and Suzy Kantor at the Old Admiralty Building on Whitehall, covering market access and the outcomes of the Economic and Financial Dialogue. We met with Dan Chugg and Andrew Pittam at the FCDO, Dan had had the pen on the China Audit released just days earlier, so the timing was particularly significant. And at the Cabinet Office, we pressed the case for greater business involvement in any upcoming Prime Ministerial engagement with China.

The highlight of the governmental engagements was a private roundtable with Catherine West MP, Minister for Asia Pacific, reflecting on her recent visit to Guangdong and to Zhuhai, which had been a genuinely meaningful visit. She brings real depth to her role; she speaks Mandarin, has lived and worked in China, and the conversations with her are always substantive. It was great to continue our conversation that began in Shield Works in March 2025, indeed the first thing she started talking to our delegation about was my factory! The delegation in-fact heard about Shield Works from multiple people across Whitehall this week and now all want to visit – welcome anytime!

What stood out most across every meeting? A genuine shift in tone. David Lammy’s call for “progressive realism” in the UK’s China policy resonated strongly, and this week showed that message taking root across departments. Conversations were honest, pragmatic, and forward-looking. Trade, talent, and trust were at the heart of it all.

Beyond Whitehall

Some memorable moments also happened outside the government buildings.

On Thursday evening, I had the privilege of opening the UK-China Summer Forum at King’s College London, held at the iconic Bush House, home of the Lau China Institute, which brought together 100 UK and China watchers, policy advisors, economists, and entrepreneurs for an open, respectful, and genuinely informed evening of dialogue. Thank you to Professor Kerry Brown for hosting us.

On Friday morning, we met with Sir Charles Bowman and Suwei Jiang at PwC to discuss potential future collaboration between BritCham and the City of London, including around a Going Global programme.

The week also included a Chamber alumni gathering for former BritCham board and staff members now based in the UK, and productive discussions with the British Chambers of Commerce and the China Chamber of Commerce UK at the Bank of China.

I ended the trip the way I always do, on the train from King’s Cross to Newcastle, then on to Hexham. Back to where it all started, to see my mum and dad and have a fresh Greggs!

The Policy Moment

The 2025 Doorknock landed at a genuinely significant juncture. The UK government had just released three major strategies in the days preceding our visit, the Industrial Strategy, the Trade Strategy, and the China Audit, and almost every conversation across the week was shaped by them. The Labour government’s adoption of “progressive realism” in its China approach, dual-tracking economic engagement with national resilience, gave us a clear framework to work within and push on.

The BritCham Position Paper, our 7th annual edition, covering 8 industry chapters and 50 positions, remained our primary advocacy tool throughout. 29 of last year’s 50 recommendations had been reflected in the EFD outcomes. That is not a coincidence. That is what sustained, evidence-based advocacy delivers.

The Sentiment Survey told an honest story: 58% of British businesses found operating in China harder in 2024 than 2023. But 76% were maintaining or increasing investment. And optimism about the bilateral relationship, following Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s October visit to China, had risen to over 60% in a flash poll conducted for our Briefing for Britain document. The direction of travel, while complex, is constructive.

The South China Perspective

From Shenzhen and Zhuhai to Guangzhou and Dongguan, South China remains a hub of innovation, manufacturing, and trade. But businesses here are navigating a genuinely complex landscape – supply chain diversification, regulatory complexity, geopolitical headwinds, and competitive pressures that require both resilience and strategic clarity.

Our delegation’s role was clear: to represent, advocate, and build bridges. And I’m proud that South China had a strong voice at the table throughout.

Why This Matters

The Doorknock is not a networking trip. It is the most direct form of advocacy available to British businesses operating in China, walking into the rooms where UK-China policy is shaped and ensuring that the realities of doing business on the ground are understood by the people making decisions in London. British businesses in China need clarity. They need relationships. They need the UK’s China policy to be grounded not only in principle, but in practical understanding of what’s happening in the market, and what’s at stake. We bring that understanding, we bring that knowledge, we bring that China capability.

I have attended every Doorknock since 2023. Each time, the access deepens and the conversations become more substantive. That is a function of trust built over time, and it is something I am committed to continuing.

Beyond the advocacy and the policy papers, there is something deeper that brings me back to this every year: a genuine belief that British business abroad can be a force for good in the world, and that helping it succeed, here in China, and in the rooms where it matters in London, is one of the most meaningful things I can do with my time and my platform.

🔗 BritCham China — Doorknock 2025 🔗 BritCham South China 🔗 BritCham China Position Paper 2025 🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn

Mark Clayton FCMA CGMA CPA KOR — Group CFO, C2W Group | Chairman, BritCham South China | Regional Representative, BritCham China Doorknock Delegation