Britain is seeking a free trade agreement with China, Prime Minister Theresa May said while travelling for talks with Chinese leaders.
"China is a country that we want to do a trade deal with," May told reporters aboard her Royal Air Force jet on the way to Wuhan, a university city where she will announce half a billion pounds worth of education deals.
"But I think that there is more we can be doing in the interim, doing right now in terms of looking at potential barriers to trade and the opening up of markets to ensure, I want to see, obviously, British businesses able to do good trade into China," she said.
May also said she would raise the future of Hong Kong in her meeting with President Xi Jinping, underlining Britain's commitment to the "one country, two systems" rule in the former British colony.
She also addressed the leadership issue plaguing her, defying critics calling for her to quit.
"I've said to you before, I'm not a quitter and there is a long-term job to be done," she told reporters.
"That job is about getting the best Brexit deal, about ensuring that we take back control of our money, our laws, our borders, that we can sign trade deals around the rest of the world. But it is also about our domestic agenda," May said.
