Last week was a remarkable few days, and worth setting down properly while it’s still fresh.

In the space of seventy-two hours I had the privilege of sitting at the same table as some of the most senior figures in UK government engagement with China, and of hosting some of them inside our manufacturing facility in Zhuhai. Three days, several conversations that mattered, and one moment of genuine institutional history.

Here is what happened, and why I think it matters.

A historic dinner

On the evening of Monday 28 April, HM Ambassador to China, Peter Wilson CMG, hosted a private dinner at the British Consulate-General Hong Kong. Around the table: every BritCham Chair across Greater China, plus HM Trade Commissioner Lewis Neal, Kate Harrisson (Director for Asia Pacific, FCDO), and our gracious host Akoto Agyeman, Director of Trade & Investment at the British Consulate-General Hong Kong.

It was the first time the Chairs of all six BritCham Chapters across Greater China had been at the same table in nearly twenty years.

That last sentence deserves to be read twice. Twenty years.

The conversation that followed was open, generous, and forward-looking. We talked about our regions, our members, and how the British business community across Greater China can do a better job of working in concert rather than parallel. Cooperation rather than competition. A more coordinated voice on the things that matter for British business.

Conversations like that only happen when the right people are in the right room — and credit to Peter and Lewis for making it happen.

Looking Forward as One

The following day brought the biennial DBT China and Hong Kong Conference 2026, hosted by Lewis Neal under the theme “Looking Forward as One.” A full agenda, with sessions on scaling UK exports, the case for Hong Kong, the Go Global programme, and inward investment.

I was on a table with Sarah Mann, HM Consul-General Guangzhou, Akoto Agyeman, and a strong contingent of FCDO and DBT colleagues from across the region. A candid photo from the day with Sarah and Akoto — mid-laugh — captures the spirit better than any agenda item could.

The relationships are warm. The dialogue is honest. And the appetite, on both sides, to do meaningful work together is real.

Breakfast at the top

A working breakfast in Hong Kong with Isobel Stephen, Director General at DBT, gave me the chance to put South China — our members, our challenges, our opportunities — directly on the table at the most senior level of UK trade officialdom.

These are the conversations that matter. Not the prepared statements; the cup-of-coffee conversations where you can speak plainly.

Home to Zhuhai

I flew back to Zhuhai on the evening of Wednesday 29 April for a working dinner with Kate Harrisson; Trevor Lewis, Head of Trade and Investment, South China, and Deputy Director for Innovation and Industry; Joshua Howey, Deputy Head of Trade and Investment, South China; and Amber Howey, Trade and Investment Consul, Central China.

A smaller, more intimate setting. A real conversation. The kind where you can lay out the actual texture of doing business in the Pearl River Delta — the dynamics, the opportunities, the real challenges our members face — rather than the headline version.

Kate listened well. We covered a lot of ground.

Shield Works

The next morning, the same delegation came out to our manufacturing facility in Zhuhai for a tour of Shield Works.

We walked the floor. They asked the questions that mattered: how we import, how we have grown, what the past two challenging years have actually looked like at the coalface. We demonstrated the Shield Works NEXUS — our AI-enabled sandbox assembly cell — and talked through our Net Zero Pathway and the road to certified Net Zero supply from China.

A really lovely note from one of the delegation afterwards captured the visit:

“Thanks very much again for hosting us Mark. Amazing what you, Candice and your partners have built from scratch. It’s a really cool story.”

I’ll take that. And full credit, as always, to Mark J, Candice and to the team who actually run the place.

Mum’s first visit

A more personal note to close.

The same week, my mum visited China for the very first time. She came out to the facility, and we made her a welcome sign with her job title: Chief Mum Officer & Absolute Legend. Both factually correct.

There is something genuinely good about showing your mum what you have spent twenty years building — and even better doing it the same week the kind of doors that work has opened were there to be seen. She got it.

Why this matters

I’m conscious that posts like this can read as a list of names and meetings, so let me put it plainly.

The British business community in China is at a moment. UK government is investing real time and senior attention in this region. Senior officials are not just willing to listen — they are actively turning up. The Chambers across Greater China are starting to act in concert in a way I have not seen in twenty years here.

If you are in the UK reading this — minister, official, business leader, journalist — please come and visit Guangdong. Come and meet our members. Come and see what British business is actually doing on the ground in the manufacturing heartland of the world.

The Greater Bay Area is one of the most important economic regions on the planet. Spending time here changes how you understand UK–China trade. I have seen it happen, repeatedly.

The door is open. BritCham South China will roll out the welcome.

And next stop on the calendar: Go Global Zhuhai, Friday 15 May 2026, DoubleTree by Hilton Zhuhai.

See you there.

Mark Clayton is Group CFO of C2W Group, Chair of The British Chamber of Commerce South China, and Founder & Chair of the Come Together Community charity. He has been based in Zhuhai, South China since 2007.