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Sir Keir Starmer told Xi Jinping that he wants a “more sophisticated” relationship with China as the two leaders met in Beijing on Thursday seeking to patch up ties strained by years of spying scandals and geopolitical tensions.
Stressing the economic benefits of an improved relationship with China, Starmer, the first UK prime minister to visit the country in eight years, told Xi that “China is a vital player on the global stage and it is vital that we build a more sophisticated relationship”.
The Chinese president, in his opening remarks, told Starmer that “China-UK relations went through some twists and turns that did not serve the interests of our countries”.
Describing the state of the world as “turbulent and fluid”, Xi said more dialogue between the UK and China was “imperative”, whether “for the sake of world peace and stability or for our two countries’ economies and peoples”.
He added that the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences” between their countries.
“As leaders, we should not shy away from difficulties and we should press ahead fortitude,” Xi said. He also quoted a Chinese proverb, saying: “Range far your eye over long distances.”
Mentioning the lunar new year next month, he said Starmer’s visit was “a sign of auspiciousness”.
For the UK, the summit offers a chance to improve trade ties with the world’s second-largest economy while, for Beijing, it is an opportunity to improve relations with an important US ally in the wake of President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats to Nato.
Starmer is expected to sign a pact with Xi to share intelligence to tackle people-trafficking gangs and to work together to curtail the supply of the Chinese-made small boat engines used in Channel crossings.
Chinese state media have given generous coverage to the visit, as Beijing seeks to exploit the rupture in the western alliance following an earlier visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
State-run media outlet China News wrote that behind “the wave of [western allies] going to China, there are both push and pull factors”.
“The United States’ recent hegemonic moves are the ‘push’ behind this trend . . . China’s continued provision of stability and certainty to the world is the ‘pull’ that attracts countries,” it said.
The UK prime minister earlier on Thursday met Zhao Leji, the head of China’s rubber-stamp parliament. He is due to have lunch with Xi before meeting China’s second-ranked official, Premier Li Qiang, in the afternoon along with business leaders from both countries.
Zhao praised Starmer’s efforts to reach a rapprochement with China amid a “changing and turbulent international landscape”. He said ties were now on “the correct track to improvement and development” and “positive progress has been made”.
Starmer said: “We have made this trip because I believe it is strongly in our common interest to find positive ways to work together, and that has been our long-standing position.”
Downing Street said that, under a border-security pact, UK teams would work with Chinese authorities to prevent small boat engines and equipment used in Channel crossings getting into the hands of criminal gangs.
Number 10 said the plan included intelligence sharing to identify smugglers’ supply routes and working with Chinese manufacturers to prevent businesses from being exploited.
