Dame Barbara Woodward, British Ambassador to China

Dame Barbara Woodward, British Ambassador to China, will join Asia House Corporate Members in an exclusive private briefing via video from Beijing on 23 March.

Dame Barbara will speak as China comes back online after its unprecedented shutdown in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This briefing takes place in the midst of global economic and political turmoil, with the recently confirmed pandemic triggering a collapse in markets and share prices on a global scale. Reactions to this crisis have been stark, with Italy, Europe’s fourth biggest economy, in complete shutdown, and the US halting all travel from Europe.

Aside from the tragic human consequences of the virus outbreak, there are deep concerns that it will trigger a global recession with major economies heavily disrupted by the outbreak. In response to this economic shock, various economies have announced a series of measures to cushion the economic fall-out. The Chinese government, for instance, has pledged to provide policy support in fiscal, financial, taxation and industrial fields, with the People’s Bank of China making RMB300 billion available to large lenders and certain local banks in hard-hit provinces.

In this exclusive briefing for Asia House Corporate Members, Dame Barbara will provide her insights from the ground in China and outline how the UK and China are working collaboratively to address this public health and economic crisis. Dame Barbara will also discuss the UK-China bilateral relationship, including what opportunities Brexit offers to deepen trade and investment ties amid this critical time.

This briefing is exclusively for Asia House Corporate Members. For more information, please contact Edward Danks at Edward.danks@asiahouse.co.uk.