Lord James Sassoon, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, said he expects trade and investment links between China and the United Kingdom to strengthen, as China is in the process of developing many industries the UK has an advantage in.

Sassoon, the 57-year-old former British minister, said this is particularly true of "invisible" sectors like financial services, design, engineering, legal services, architecture, healthcare and education.

"The UK has great expertise in invisibles. As China moves increasingly towards a consumer-based society, this will match up with what the UK has to offer," said Sassoon.

To promote the UK's expertise in these areas, Sassoon is leading a British delegation to visit the 17th China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen in early September.

The delegation is expected to comprise the representatives of more than 30 businesses, including famous names like the law firm DLA Piper, engineering consultancy firm Arup and architecture firm Foster and Partners.

"The fair has become one of the most important fairs for inbound and outbound investments into and out of China for 16 years. The UK and the CBBC have been involved almost from the beginning," said Sassoon.

Sassoon said whilst the hard negotiations will happen between businesses, he looks forward to meeting with Chinese government officials to make the UK's expertise known to them.

He expects to meet representatives from the municipal governments of provinces, including Fujian, Henan, Hunan and Hubei, as well as cities such as Xiamen.

He said these provinces represent "a large part of China, which is becoming increasingly connected" as high-speed railways links cities such as Xiamen and Shanghai.

Sassoon speaks optimistically about his upcoming China visit, pointing to the fact that UK and China's bilateral trade reached record levels earlier this year.

According to British government statistics in June, UK exports to China have doubled since 2009, and with the good momentum that exists China could become the UK's fourth biggest goods export markets within five years.

In the first quarter of 2013, UK goods exports to China averaged over 1 billion pounds ($1.56 billion) a month, which is unprecedented.

"But we want to do much better, which is why I want to be a cheerleader for British businesses, encouraging them to understand what great opportunities there are in China," Sassoon said.

Although the UK still lags behind other European countries like France and Germany in exports to China, Sassoon argues that UK exports are underestimated because exports from other European countries to China often involve a UK contribution.

One example is China's growing imports of aircraft from the French company Airbus, whose wings and Rolls Royce engines are made in the UK, he said.

He recalls having a conversation with Vice-Premier Wang Yang about trade matters when he was in Beijing in April, and in the meeting room next door, French President Francois Hollande was discussing further Airbus sales to China with Premier Li Keqiang.

"I said to Vice-Premier Wang Yang that we are grateful to Hollande for selling Airbuses to China, because there is more value in one of the planes for Britain than in France," he recalls.

He said although the UK's manufacturing sector is not as large as that of Germany, it is relatively similar to that of France.