Starmer to visit China this week in bid to build bridges with Beijing

Sir Keir Starmer will travel to China on Tuesday for the first prime ministerial visit to the country in eight years, Downing Street has confirmed.

The Prime Minister will also fly to Japan this week, No 10 said.

The visit marks a significant moment in Sir Keir’s bid to build bridges with Beijing after a freeze in Sino-British relations in the final years of the Conservative government.

It comes after controversial plans to build a huge new Chinese embassy in London were approved by the Government last week.

Sir Keir is due to be accompanied by business leaders as he seeks to improve trading relations with the superpower on the trip, which is the first by a British prime minister since Baroness Theresa May’s visit in 2018.

Sir Keir faces pressure from home to raise several difficult subjects with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, including China’s espionage activity, the treatment of the Uighur minority and the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner and British national.

A No 10 source the Government was determined to pursue a “hard-headed, grown-up” approach to its relationship with Beijing that “puts British families first”.

They added: “Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending China does not matter would be reckless, making Britain poorer and less secure.”