UK finance minister heads to China to talk commerce, currencies
21 February 2005
British finance minister Gordon Brown starts his three-day visit to China Monday to discuss trade issues, with stops in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. Britain had a trade deficit of about US950mn with China in 2003, with financial services being the majority of British exports. Brown is expected to raise the issue of greater access by Britain to other financial sectors such as insurance, analysts said. Brown may also raise the issue of China's currency, which for the last decade has been pegged at a fixed rate of 8.28 per US dollar, a level many say makes it artificially undervalued.