Britain's Keir Starmer arrives in China for pivotal visit

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday at the head of a 60-strong delegation for a three day official visit aimed at boosting trade and re-engaging with China after almost a decade of wrangling.

Speaking to business and cultural leaders accompanying him at their hotel, Starmer said they were helping "make history" by being part of the change his government was committed to bring about for Britain, a reference to his electoral pledge to do whatever it took to kickstart the country's stagnant economy.

"We are resolute about being outward-looking, about taking opportunities, about building relationships and always being absolutely focused on our national interest," he told the group, which included executives from businesses and organizations ranging from HSBC, Airbus and drug giant GSK to the National Theatre, the Science Museum and Table Tennis England.

With China's economy growing at 5%, compared with Britain's 2025 figure of 1.5%, Starmer is pinning his hopes on some of the gold dust from the Chinese economic miracle rubbing off on the United Kingdom.

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When he sits down for talks on trade, investment and national security with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, he will be the first British leader to do so since former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May in February 2018.

After that, he heads south to Shanghai for meetings with British and Chinese businesses in the country's financial capital.

"The prime minister will push for access in areas where better cooperation with China would boost growth and deliver prosperity for the British people. That includes the U.K.'s world-leading financial services sector, creative industries and life sciences expertise," Downing Street said.

"However, he will be clear that we will not trade economic cooperation for our national security. He will raise the areas where we disagree with China -- being clear that we will always defend our national security and where viewpoints differ, frank and open dialogue is of vital importance," added No. 10.

Chatham House research fellow Yu Jie told the BBC that what China wanted to get out of improved ties with Britain was geopolitical capital and to open up its market to Chinese investment, which currently accounts for a "very minimal" 0.7% of direct foreign investment in Britain.

Yu said that in the midst of the "disruption" being wreaked by the foreign policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, Beijing may view Britain as a reliable bet that can offer "order and organization."

Starmer's plane touched down in China exactly one week after his government gave Beijing the go-ahead for long-delayed plans to build a new "super embassy" in London that critics said would likely be a hub for spying and posed a threat to national security.

The prime minister's trip is the latest in a flurry of visits by heads of government to Beijing since the start of the year, including leaders of Ireland, South Korea, Finland and Canada.

On his visit on Jan. 16, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a "strategic partnership," including a new trade deal, amid a thaw of an almost decade-long deep freeze in relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is due to arrive in China on Feb. 24 for a three-day visit.

A so-called "golden age" of Sino-British relations that peaked during the administration of former Prime Minister David Cameron, which at one point saw him and Xi share a pint in Cameron's local pub in 2015, began to unravel in 2019 amid a crackdown on civil rights protests in Hong Kong and other disagreements over human rights.

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