BEIJING (Reuters) - China would welcome a visit by Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday, a day after Hammond said talk of deploying a British warship in the Pacific had complicated bilateral relations.

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is seen outside Downing Street in London, Britain January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

As Britain prepares to exit the European Union at the end of next month, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, it is seeking to strengthen diplomatic and trade relationships with countries around the world.

Earlier this month, defense minister Gavin Williamson said Britain would use military force to support its interests after Brexit and outlined plans to deploy a new aircraft carrier to the Pacific, where London has been seeking to demonstrate its influence in relation to China.

British media reported that China had canceled trade talks with Hammond because it was upset about Williamson’s speech.

“China sets great store on Sino-Britain ties, and hopes Britain can earnestly respect China’s core interests and concerns, and make efforts for promoting the healthy and stable development of relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing.

“As for the issue of Chancellor Hammond visiting China, we have said that we welcome him to visit,” Geng added, without elaborating.

Hammond, asked on BBC radio on Thursday if the relationship had been damaged by Williamson’s comments, said: “It is a complex relationship and it hasn’t been made simpler by Chinese concerns about royal navy deployments in the South China Sea.”

He also said he was disappointed that Beijing had reacted in the way they had to Williamson’s comments.

A British Ministry of Defense official said Williamson’s speech had been cleared in advance by both Hammond’s department and Prime Minister Theresa May’s office.

A spokeswoman for Britain’s finance ministry, asked about Friday’s comments by Beijing, said Britain remained committed to a “golden era” of bilateral relations. “We would welcome the opportunity to make progress on this agenda,” she said.

British exports to and imports from China hit a record high in 2017. China was Britain’s sixth largest export market that year with sales worth 22.3 billion pounds ($29.15 billion), and its fourth largest source of imports, worth 45.2 billion pounds, according to the House of Commons Library.

Britain has long courted China for a post-Brexit trade deal, though any formal talks, which would typically take many years to conclude, could not begin until it officially leaves the EU.

China and Britain agreed last year to look at the possibility of reaching a “top notch” post-Brexit free trade deal that would mark an important political victory for the Conservative government.