Newcastle urged to court Chinese interest

A Chinese business leader and a university professor have both called for Northeast England to work harder to attract investors from China, or face losing out.

Professor Xiong Yu, chair of technology and operations management at Newcastle Business School within Northumbria University, told China Daily that Newcastle and the surrounding area needs a stronger voice.

"There has to be better promotion of the region to get businesses here," he said. "There is a great deal to offer overseas investors, such as sub-sea technology, biotech, medical technologies and digital industries."

Xiong believes that tapping into the Chinese market will not only mean more jobs but additional investment in technology, innovation and ecosystem protection－and a more competitive region.

"We need to create joint UK-China activities and events in order to build a platform to promote the Northeast," said Xiong. "Conferences and forums in China could open up opportunities for Newcastle."

Xiong said the government's Northern Powerhouse strategy has attracted Chinese interest to Manchester and Birmingham. He said Newcastle should play a larger role in such initiatives.

"There should be greater emphasis on Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham and the other surrounding areas and we can even bring benefits to Scotland," he said. "But the message is not being delivered and the aim now is to attract more China collaborations."

The Northern Powerhouse is a scheme aimed at boosting economic growth in the North of England.

William Franklin, founder of the China Investors Club, shared similar sentiments. He told China Daily that Chinese investors who do business outside London are more likely to do it in Manchester, where there are high returns and less risk.

"Manchester is one of the areas where we have seen continued strong interest, not just in real estate, but also investments into industry. After Hainan Airlines established direct flights from Beijing to Manchester, the city has seen approximately a 30 percent uplift in investments, demonstrating that transport links can create significant percentage increases in investments. Also in the Midlands, there is significant interest in advanced engineering." Franklin said.

The London businessman said Newcastle should define itself as a new center.

"It might not be in advanced engineering on the same scale as Coventry or the Midlands or Manchester. The Northeast will have to find some other way to attract investment, possibly in the digital sector."

Franklin said Newcastle could also look into the soft power of twinning with a Chinese city and having active trade missions and cultures exchanges with China.

However, London is still the leading attraction for Chinese investments, with 75 percent of State-owned enterprises in the UK based in England's capital city, according to Grant Thornton's Tou Ying Tracker 2016.

The London-based accountancy firm noted that private Chinese-owned UK companies grew by 210 percent on average and State-owned enterprise rose by 146 percent last year.