Starmer opens door to Xi visit after Beijing talks

Keir Starmer opened the door to a UK visit by Xi Jinping after bilateral talks in Beijing during his three-day visit — the first visit by a UK prime minister to China in eight years. Starmer and his team highlighted outcomes from the trip including a visa waiver, a cut in whisky tariffs and economic cooperation agreements, including a £10.8bn investment by AstraZeneca in its Chinese operations.

While travelling to Beijing, Starmer said the UK government would remain “clear-eyed and realistic” about national security threats from China. His official spokesperson said the trip showed a “reset relationship” was beneficial and that the Beijing summit was not a “one and done” event, but added: “I’m not going to get ahead of future engagements, we’ll set those out in the normal way.” The visit drew anger from British critics of Beijing.

Five Conservative MPs and two peers are among nine Britons who had sanctions imposed on them by China in 2021, and No 10 said progress had been made on that issue. Chinese diplomats remain banned from parliament after a spying row, and the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, said Xi would be barred from addressing parliament while the sanctions remained in place.

In talks at the Great Hall of the People, Starmer said he wanted a “broader, deeper and more sophisticated” relationship and said he had “respectfully” raised human rights concerns including the detention of Jimmy Lai and the persecution of the Uyghurs.

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