Letters | How Hong Kong can help cement the UK-China relationship

The language was deliberate. “Sophisticated” suggests realism, balance and an acceptance that engagement today cannot resemble the confidence of earlier eras. It acknowledges that Britain approaches China not as an industrial powerhouse seeking access, but as a mature economy offering services: finance, law, education and institutional experience.

More than two centuries ago, Britain sent the Macartney Embassy to the Qing court with finely crafted clocks, scientific instruments and luxury goods intended to demonstrate industrial advancement. These objects were not merely gifts; they were arguments. The mission failed, not because China rejected innovation, but because the two sides were operating within different frameworks. Britain saw a market to be opened. The Qing court, under the Qianlong emperor, evaluated the encounter through a diplomatic order shaped by hierarchy, continuity and long-established norms. China did not perceive itself as lacking what Britain offered.

History moved on, and Hong Kong emerged from a later phase of that engagement. For over a century, it functioned as an intermediary space where British legal and commercial practices intersected with Chinese economic realities. With China’s resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong came a recalibration of expectations.

Yet Hong Kong’s relevance did not disappear with that transition. Its value today is not symbolic but functional. Hong Kong remains one of the few places where international legal standards, financial infrastructure and professional services operate seamlessly within Chinese sovereignty. It is less a political buffer than an economic interface.