![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2258188425-1024x683.jpg\")
Chinese President Xi Jinping told Starmer that \u201cas leaders we should not shy away from difficulties.\u201d | Vincent Thian\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\nBut in remarks at the start of their meeting in Beijing\u2019s Great Hall of the People, both men avoided difficult issues and heaped praise on each other\u2019s countries.<\/p>\n
After years of chilled relations under Conservative U.K. governments, Starmer said: \u201cChina is a vital player on the global stage and it is vital to build a more sophisticated relationship, where we can identify opportunities to collaborate, but also to allow meaningful dialogue on areas where we disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Communist leader Xi, speaking through an interpreter, singled out Britain\u2019s Labour Party, saying it had in the past \u201cmade important contributions to the growth of China-U.K. relations.\u201d He added that there had been \u201ctwists and turns that did not serve the interests of our countries\u201d in recent years.<\/p>\n
Chinese President Xi Jinping told Starmer that \u201cas leaders we should not shy away from difficulties.\u201d | Vincent Thian\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Describing the state of the world as \u201cturbulent and fluid,\u201d Xi said more dialogue between the two nations was \u201cimperative,\u201d whether \u201cfor the sake of world peace and stability or for our two countries\u2019 economies and peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added the two men would \u201cstand the test of history\u201d if they could rise above their differences.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the furor over China in the U.K., Xi said: \u201cYour visit this time has drawn a lot of attention. Sometimes good things take time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But in remarks at the start of their meeting in Beijing\u2019s Great Hall of the People, both men…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,6093,1376,15936,1659,43,4048,37472,16938,2659,44,2100,3427,6639,2532,20581,4992,61,41,39,42,40,1215,127,772,99469,19309,75534,9671],"class_list":["post-440412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-china","tag-climate-change","tag-donald-trump","tag-farms","tag-growth","tag-headlines","tag-history","tag-human-rights","tag-keir-starmer","tag-mark-carney","tag-news","tag-policy","tag-rights","tag-russia","tag-security","tag-stability","tag-tariffs","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trade","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-visas","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-war-in-ukraine","tag-xi-jinping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}