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 late June 2023, I travelled to London as part of a high-level 11-person delegation from the British Chamber of Commerce in China for the 2023 Whitehall Doorknock, only the Chamber’s second ever, and the first since 2019. It was my first. And what a week it turned out to be.

I’ll admit something personal about this trip. The 29th of June is my birthday. That week, it fell in the middle of the Doorknock. I made the decision to be in London rather than at home in Zhuhai with my family, including my one-year-old daughter Kina, because I genuinely believe this work matters. That advocacy, done well, makes a real difference to real businesses and real people. No regrets. But I won’t pretend it didn’t cross my mind.

The Delegation

The 2023 delegation brought together representatives from BritCham China’s offices in Beijing, South China, and Southwest China. Our team included Rachel Tsang, who led the organisation and coordination of the delegation with incredible skill throughout, Julian Fisher, Julian MacCormac, Chris Torrens, Chris Dicks, Mavis Yang, Chris Chen, Daisy Shen, St. John Moore, Kam Panesar, and Michael Fosh. I joined in my capacity as Vice-Chair of BritCham Guangdong — now BritCham South China.

A Week in the Corridors of Power

The week was built around the presentation of the BritCham Position Paper 2023, an evidence-based document rooted in the lived realities of British businesses operating in China, compiled from member surveys and sector roundtables across the Chamber network.

The level of access we received was, frankly, unprecedented for a delegation of this kind. Over five days we were hosted by Lords, including Lord Dominic Johnson, Ministers, the Chinese Ambassador H.E. Zheng Zeguang, the Institute of Directors China Group, and the Chairs of various British business associations including the British Chambers of Commerce and the China-Britain Business Council. We also held substantive meetings with director-generals, sector heads, policy leads, and research analysts from across the FCDO and the Department for Business and Trade.

What struck me most was not just the access, but the appetite. People genuinely wanted to hear from us. They wanted to understand the on-the-ground reality for British businesses in China, the opportunities, the concerns, the regulatory friction, and the optimism that still exists despite everything. We weren’t pushing at a closed door. We were welcomed in.

“Conditional Optimism”

If there was a phrase that defined the conversations that week, it was this: conditional optimism. That is where British businesses in China stood in 2023, cautiously hopeful, navigating complexity, but fundamentally committed to the market and to the bilateral relationship.

That nuance matters. The narrative about China in the UK media and in parts of Westminster is often stripped of that complexity. Our job, and the job of the Position Paper, is to bring it back. To make sure that the people shaping UK-China policy understand what it actually looks like to do business there.

Why This Trip Mattered

BritCham is a member-led NGO, not a trade advocacy body in the traditional sense. The Position Paper exists because our members fill in the survey. The Doorknock works because we carry their voices, not our own agendas, into those rooms. If you are a BritCham member and you have not yet filled in the annual survey, please do. It is more important than you might think.

This was the trip that showed me what sustained, evidence-based advocacy can achieve. It set the standard for everything that followed. And it reminded me, on my birthday in a London meeting room somewhere between the FCDO and Parliament, exactly why I do this.

A huge thank you to Rachel Tsang for leading the delegation so brilliantly, to the entire team for an incredible week, and to every BritCham member whose input made the Position Paper what it was.

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 🔗 BritCham South China 🔗 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