Since winning the general election last year, Labour has sought to thaw the UK’s relationship with Beijing.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Business Secretary Peter Kyle and the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins, have all been on visits to China.
The prime minister is expected to make his own trip to the country, perhaps as soon as early next year.
Asked about the prospect of heading there, he told reporters en route to the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, that no visit was confirmed yet.
He said the government’s approach to China “is the same approach as we’ve always taken, which is cooperate where we can and challenge where we must, particularly on national security”.
Critics argue the government is insufficiently hard-headed about what they see as the threat posed by Beijing, and argue for a much greater caution in the UK’s relationship.
Dame Priti said: “Keir Starmer really hates Britain.
“He’s jetting off to Beijing, days after our intelligence services issued alerts about Chinese espionage following the massive spy case.”
Earlier this week MI5 warned MPs and peers they faced a significant risk of spying from the Chinese state.
The alert said individuals working on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security were posing a “headhunters” on platforms like LinkedIn and targeting people working in British politics to obtain insider information.
China has rejected claims of espionage as “pure fabrication”.
Meanwhile, in September a case involving two men – including a former parliamentary researcher – who were accused of spying for China collapsed in controversial circumstances. Both men denied wrongdoing.