\n<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer has said the UK government will remain \u201cclear-eyed and realistic\u201d on the national security threat posed by China as he travelled to Beijing in an effort to improve relations with the economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n
The prime minister promised \u201cstability and clarity\u201d in his approach to Beijing after years of what he described as \u201cinconsistency\u201d under the Tories, as western powers turn to China in their search for economic stability amid concerns the US may no longer be a reliable partner.<\/p>\n
Starmer\u2019s trip comes amid tensions between Britain and its close ally, the US, over Donald Trump\u2019s threats to take control of Greenland and his criticism of the Chagos Islands deal.<\/p>\n
Downing Street said that at a time of growing global instability, where events abroad continued to rebound on people at home, he would act in the UK\u2019s national interest. He will meet China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, and the premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing on Thursday for talks.<\/p>\n
Starmer has faced criticism at home for pursuing a thaw in relations with China while the country remains a national security threat to the UK, with a decision to greenlight a new mega-embassy in London last week angering opposition politicians.<\/p>\n
China has also been accused of trying to recruit informants in parliament, harass Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in the UK, suppress criticism by an academic at a British university, and engage in cyber-attacks.<\/p>\n
Downing Street said Starmer would maintain \u201cguardrails\u201d on national security, while discussing economic ties with China\u2019s leaders. But they said he would not trade one for the other, and would raise areas of disagreement, including human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
The prime minister has argued the UK cannot afford to ignore the economic opportunities presented by China \u2013 the world\u2019s second largest economy and the UK\u2019s third largest trading partner, supporting 370,000 British jobs.<\/p>\n
As he becomes the first UK leader in eight years to visit Beijing, he promised to take a more pragmatic stance. \u201cFor years, our approach to China has been dogged by inconsistency, blowing hot and cold, from golden age to ice age. But like it or not, China matters for the UK,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs one of the world\u2019s biggest economic players, a strategic and consistent relationship with them is firmly in our national interest. That does not mean turning a blind eye to the challenges they pose \u2013 but engaging even where we disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Conservatives have said that Starmer should not be travelling to China. The shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, said: \u201cThe evidence is overwhelming that China poses a serious threat to our national security and it is clear Keir Starmer is going to China without any leverage. He lacks the backbone to stand up for Britain and is bending over backwards to appease Beijing.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarmer has already surrendered to the CCP [Chinese Communist party] over their plan for a spy-hub super-embassy in the heart of our capital, and agreed to hand over British sovereign territory and \u00a335bn of taxpayers\u2019 money to an ally of China with his Chagos deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cBritain cannot afford for him to make any more concessions, or for him to stay silent on China\u2019s repression of dissidents like Jimmy Lai or the CCP\u2019s attempts to undermine our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a No 10 source said: \u201cSticking our heads in the sand and refusing to engage would be a staggering dereliction of duty. It would make the British people less safe, cut us off from opportunities, and weaken our ability to manage global challenges in areas like health and climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
They pointed out that Trump met Xi in October and planned to visit China in April. Since early 2018, France\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron, has visited China three times while German leaders have visited four times but during the same period no British prime minister has visited China.<\/p>\n
Starmer will be accompanied on the three-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai by a delegation of about 60 British businesses and cultural organisations, including HSBC, GSK, Jaguar Land Rover and the National Theatre.<\/p>\n
The business secretary, Peter Kyle, who will also be on the trip, said: \u201cFor a decade, there has been a lack of serious engagement needed to capitalise on the opportunity of a better relationship with China.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see trade flourish between us. From financial services to advanced manufacturing and the global energy transition, the UK\u2019s strengths increasingly align with the rapidly evolving Chinese economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first duty of government is security, and we protect ourselves best through active engagement and pragmatic cooperation, not by shutting the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his trip to China, Starmer will travel to Tokyo to meet the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keir Starmer has said the UK government will remain \u201cclear-eyed and realistic\u201d on the national security threat posed by China as he travelled to Beijing in an effort to improve relations with the economic powerhouse. The prime minister promised \u201cstability and clarity\u201d in his approach to Beijing after years of what he described as \u201cinconsistency\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[2153,22532,4066,258,120,328,3665,1242,1347,2543],"class_list":{"0":"post-42921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-cleareyed","10":"tag-flies","11":"tag-foreign","12":"tag-national","13":"tag-policy","14":"tag-remain","15":"tag-security","16":"tag-starmer","17":"tag-vows"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}