BEIJING—British Prime Minister Keir Starmer begins a three-day visit to China on Wednesday, where he will defend London’s “pragmatic” partnership with the Asian giant after years of fraught relations.
It will be the first visit to Beijing by a UK prime minister since 2018 and follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States.
Starmer will also make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the trip is an opportunity to show Beijing can be a reliable partner at a time when President Donald Trump’s policies have rattled historic ties between Washington and its Western allies.
Starmer, who is battling record low popularity polls and hopes the visit can boost Britain’s beleaguered economy, is to arrive in Beijing around 0930 GMT on Wednesday.
He will meet with Xi for a lunch on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang.
The talks will touch upon “trade, investment and national security,” Downing Street said in a statement, with Starmer promising “stability and clarity in the government’s approach”.
Starmer said on Wednesday this visit to China was “going to be a really important trip for us”, vowing to make “some real progress”.
There are “opportunities” to deepen bilateral relations, Starmer told reporters traveling with him on the plane to China.
“It doesn’t make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China, it’s in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security,” he added.
China, for its part, “is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust”, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said ahead of the trip.
Faced with Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canada for signing a trade agreement with China, and the US president’s attempts to create a new international institution with his “Board of Peace”, Beijing has been affirming its support for the United Nations to visiting leaders.
