Spanish experts highlight potential for China-UK financial cooperation

Beijing-London cooperation helps generate business between China, Eurozone

Although Britain has not adopted the European euro but is still using its own currency, the pound, London is nevertheless the most powerful business center in Europe. Thus an agreement between Beijing and London could help generate business between China and the whole eurozone, said Santiago Nino Becerra, professor of Economic Structures at the Ramon Llull University in Barcelona.

Britain was the first European country to request to be a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as it views the bank as symbolizing the new vigor of Asia and China and containing transformation mechanisms, said Xulio Rios, director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics in Spain.

The AIIB offers a great opportunity for European companies to do business with China, as 18 European nations are now members of this bank, he said.

Juan Antonio Aguilar, an expert on the Spanish economy, confirmed that there are clear signs that nothing is as it was in Asia and that the operations of regional development banks are vital to understand the reach of "soft power."

China is currently the main business partner of over 100 countries and regions in the world, while the United States holds the same status in less than 80 countries and regions, he said.

"The phase of confrontation has passed and collaboration offers more than discussion. I continue to think that the tendency points towards the creation of an international currency by a mixture of the most important monetary units and in this the AIIB can be important," Nino Becerra said.

There is no doubt that a new world order with various actors is emerging, Aguilar said, saying China faces "a moment of great historic responsibility."