{"id":396399,"date":"2026-01-29T06:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/396399\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T06:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:38:07","slug":"starmer-and-xi-call-for-deeper-uk-china-ties-as-trump-shakes-up-global-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/396399\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer and Xi call for deeper UK-China ties as Trump shakes up global relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIJING — The leaders of Britain and China called Thursday for a \u201ccomprehensive strategic partnership\u201d to deepen ties<\/a> between their nations at a time of growing global uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Neither publicly mentioned Donald Trump, but the American president’s challenges to the post-Cold War order was clearly on their minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that working together on issues like climate change, global stability during challenging times for the world is precisely what we should be doing as we build this relationship in the way that I\u2019ve described,\u201d Starmer told Xi in his opening remarks.<\/p>\n

The two met in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing as their nations try to improve relations<\/a> after several years of acrimony. Relations have deteriorated over allegations of Chinese spying<\/a> in Great Britain, China\u2019s support for Russia in the Ukraine war, and the crackdown on freedoms<\/a> in Hong Kong, the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. Starmer is the first British prime minister to visit in eight years. <\/p>\n

\u201cChina-U.K. relations experienced setbacks in previous years, which was not in the interests of either country,\u201d Xi said. \u201cIn the current complex and ever-changing international situation, … China and the U.K. need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to maintain world peace and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xi also appeared to acknowledge the criticism that Starmer has faced for reaching out to China despite national security and human rights concerns. The U.K. recently approved controversial plans for a huge Chinese Embassy<\/a> in London, removing a sticking point in relations but also overriding fears that the \u201cmega-embassy\u201d would make it easier for China to conduct espionage and intimidate dissidents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood things often come with difficulties,\u201d Xi said. \u201cAs long as it is the right thing to do in accordance with the fundamental interests of the country and its people, leaders will not shy away from difficulties and will forge ahead bravely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer, who became prime minister in July 2024, has said he would protect national security while keeping up diplomatic dialogue and economic cooperation with China. He told Xi that it has \u201cbeen far too long\u201d since a U.K. prime minister visited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a promise 18 months ago when we were elected into government, that I would make Britain face outward again,\u201d the leader of the center-left Labour Party said. \u201cBecause as we all know, events abroad affect everything that happens back in our home countries, from prices on the supermarket shelves to how secure we feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

His government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised and ease a cost-of-living crisis for millions of households. <\/p>\n

More than 50 top business executives have joined him on the trip, along with the leaders of some cultural organizations, as he seeks to expand opportunities for British companies in China.<\/p>\n

The disruption to global trade under Trump has made expanding trade and investment more imperative for many governments. Starmer is the fourth leader of a U.S. ally to visit Beijing this month, following those of South Korea, Canada<\/a> and Finland. The German chancellor is expected to visit next month. <\/p>\n

The U.K. leader earlier Thursday met Zhao Leji, the chairman of China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress. The two countries are expected to sign a number of agreements later in the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIJING — The leaders of Britain and China called Thursday for a \u201ccomprehensive strategic partnership\u201d to deepen ties…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[148726,233,84,59,232,57,58,50,229,56,54,55,231],"class_list":["post-396399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-148726","tag-article","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-general-news","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}