Lord Charles Powell, who served as an aide to former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher during the negotiations for the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, wants to see Britain keep moving closer to China.

Speaking in Shanghai on Wednesday, he hailed the historic handover negotiated with Deng Xiaoping as "one of the great diplomatic achievements of the late 20th century".

He said the UK welcomes China's rise on the world stage and its recent investments in Britain's energy and transport projects.