Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in China for a three-day visit – the first by a British prime minister in eight years.
Sir Keir is seeking to strengthen trading and cultural ties between the two nations after years of acrimony.
But he has faced criticism from opponents at home over the risk posed by China to the UK’s national security and Xi Jinping’s human rights record.
The PM – who will meet President Xi on Thursday – said the trip will bring benefits to the UK and it was important to maintain a “strategic and consistent relationship” with the world’s second largest economy.
As he arrived at the airport in Beijing, Sir Keir was greeted by a delegation of Chinese government officials and presented with a bouquet of flowers. Union flags were seen flying in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Addressing the 60 British business leaders accompanying him on the trip, the PM said: “On this delegation, you’re making history. You’re part of the change that we’re bringing about.
“We are resolute about being outward-looking, about taking opportunities, about building relationships…and always being absolutely focused on our national interest.”
For a UK prime minister, the politics of engaging with China is tricky.
China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang.
There has also been criticism over the treatment of Jimmy Lai – the Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon – who is facing a life sentence in prison.
In addition to China’s human rights record, there are concerns about the scale of its espionage activities in the UK, with the head of MI5 recently warning that Chinese state operatives presented a daily national security threat.
Sir Keir declined to be drawn on what he would seek to raise with Chinese leaders.
“In the past, on all the trips I’ve done, I’ve always raised issues that need to be raised, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself on the specifics until I’ve had the opportunity,” he told reporters travelling with him.
He added: “Part of the reason for engaging with China is so that issues where we disagree can be discussed, and the issues where we agree can be progressed, and so that’s the approach.”
Sir Keir will be hoping his visit – the first by a UK prime minister since Theresa May in 2018 – will mend relations with China, while keeping US President Donald Trump on side.
He has insisted the UK will not be forced to “choose between” China and the US, amid rising trade tensions between the two superpowers in recent years.
The UK would maintain “close ties” with the US on business, security and defence, he said, but added that “sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China… wouldn’t be sensible”.
The PM’s visit has attracted fierce criticism from his political opponents in the UK, particularly after the government gave the go-ahead to controversial plans for a Chinese mega-embassy in London.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would not visit China “at this time” if she was prime minister.
“We should be talking more to those countries who are aligned with our interests, not the country that is doing everything it can to undermine our economy,” she told reporters.
“I think that that is what the prime minister should be talking about and he needs to show strength, not approving a super-embassy which many people think is going to become a spy hub.”
She had earlier said she was “worried about what he’s [Starmer] going to be doing when he gets to China”.
“He’s probably going to give away the Isle of Wight before he comes back. Let’s have an actual foreign policy, one that is rooted in realism and focusing on Britain’s national interest,” she added.
Sir Keir also faced criticism from the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons, where deputy prime minister David Lammy stood in for him at his weekly question time session.
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Whilst the Chinese regime still holds British citizen Jimmy Lai captive in prison, and whilst the Chinese regime continues to hunt down pro-democracy protesters on the streets of Britain with bounties on their heads, the British prime minister has gone cap in hand to China to ask for a trade deal on the promise of a super-embassy from which the Chinese regime will continue to spy on us.”
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
