UK’s Starmer arrives in China with hopes to strengthen ties
While courting the world’s second-largest economy, Britain must also remain vigilant about potential security threats, he says
[BEIJING] UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer began the first visit to China by a British prime minister since 2018 on Wednesday (Jan 28).
His trip is aimed at strengthening ties with Beijing, as relations with the US become more volatile.
Starmer – whose approach to China has been criticised by some British and US politicians – said that while courting the world’s second-largest economy, Britain must also remain vigilant about potential security threats.
“They say that eight days is a long time in politics. Try eight years, because it has been eight years since a British prime minister stepped on Chinese soil. So, on this delegation, you are making history,” he told more than 50 business leaders visting with him.
“You are part of the change that we are bringing about – because everything you are doing here, everything I am doing here is focused on how we benefit people at home,” he said before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on Thursday.
The visit could mark a shift in ties between Britain and China, after years of deep acrimony over Beijing’s crackdown on political freedoms in Hong Kong, China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war and allegations by British security services that China regularly spies on politicians and officials.
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For China, the visit offers the country a chance to portray itself as a stable and reliable partner at a time of global disorder.
Tensions with Trump shadow Starmer’s trip
“It does not make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury it in the sand when it comes to China, it is in our interests to engage,” Starmer told reporters earlier.
European and other Western countries have engaged in a flurry of diplomacy with China, as they hedge against unpredictability from the US under US President Donald Trump.
Starmer’s trip follows tensions with Trump over his threats to seize Greenland, his criticism of Britain’s deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago – including an island with a US-UK air base – to Mauritius, and his comments that North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies avoided front-line combat during the war in Afghanistan.
On Saturday, Trump threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian goods if that country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, signed a trade deal with China.
The UK leader insisted Britain could continue to strengthen economic ties with China – without angering Trump – because of his country’s long history of working closely with the US.
“The relationship we have with the US is one of the closest relationships we hold – on defence, security, intelligence and also on trade and lots of areas,” he said.
Starmer was reluctant to be drawn into conversations about what he would discuss with Chinese leaders, or if he would bring up the fate of Jimmy Lai, the former Hong Kong media tycoon who was convicted in December of national security crimes.
He also declined to say whether he would ask China to pressure Russia to end its war against Ukraine.
When asked if Britain and China could strike a deal that would allow more visa-free travel, Starmer said he hoped to make some “progress” in that area.
He also distanced himself from comments made by Carney last week about middle-power countries working together to avoid being victimised by American hegemony.
“I am a pragmatist, a British pragmatist applying common sense,” Starmer said, rejecting the idea that his government must choose between the US and Europe. REUTERS
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