Premier Li congratulates new British PM Sunak

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has congratulated Rishi Sunak on his taking office as the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

In his congratulatory message to Sunak, which was made public on Wednesday, Li said both China and the UK are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major economies in the world, and they have extensive common interests.

China stands ready to work with the UK to advance healthy and steady development of bilateral ties based on the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit in order to benefit the people of both countries and promote world peace, stability and development, he added.

Sunak, the UK's former chancellor of the exchequer, won the ruling Conservative Party's leadership contest on Monday. He replaced Liz Truss as the new prime minister.

In his cabinet reshuffle, Sunak retained Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, the man who replaced Kwasi Kwarteng after he was sacked, and got rid of many of his policies under Truss.

Yields on 30-year gilt bonds had been trading at 3.75 percent at the end of September. The installation of Sunak has calmed the UK, with the Financial Times reporting that the yield was back to 3.67 percent on Tuesday, signaling greater confidence in the economic competence of the new leader.

"On the face of it, this suggests the last month has been a waking nightmare, and we're back to where we would have been if Rishi Sunak had won the Tory leadership in the first place," James Athey, a fixed-income portfolio manager at Abrdn, told the Financial Times, referencing how Truss had reached Downing Street in the summer after a vote by Conservative Party grassroots members in the leadership election that chose her ahead of Sunak.

In his first public address as leader, Sunak spoke of a "profound economic crisis" with "difficult decisions" facing the country.

Shevaun Haviland, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, told the BBC that there was no time for "any more flip-flopping on policies".

"The political and economic uncertainty of the past few months has been hugely damaging to British business confidence and must now come to an end," she added.

One cloud of uncertainty, however, has come from the government's much-anticipated fiscal statement, due to be published on Oct 31, now put back to Nov 17.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told the BBC the original date had been set without the anticipation of another change of leader.

"The prime minister and the chancellor agreed that the fiscal event would now take place on Nov 17, and would be an autumn statement," said a release issued after the cabinet meeting.

"He said it is important to reach the right decisions and there is time for those decisions to be confirmed with cabinet."