Sir Keir Starmer has told President Xi Jinping in the first-ever conversation between the leaders that he wants the UK and China to pursue closer economic ties while being free to talk frankly about their disagreements.
Xi, the Chinese leader, told Britain’s new prime minister during a 45-minute phone call that he hoped the UK would “look at China objectively and rationally”, the Chinese official news agency Xinhua said.
The conversation was initiated by Starmer, whose aides said he wanted to forge a long-term, “grown-up” relationship between the countries despite various existing challenges.
Downing Street said the two leaders had discussed areas of collaboration including trade, the economy and education, and agreed that as permanent members of the UN Security Council they should work closely on global security and climate change.
Number 10 said it did not gloss over the areas where there had been growing tensions between Beijing and London in recent years. “The prime minister added that he hoped the leaders would be able to have open, frank and honest discussions to address and understand areas of disagreement where necessary, such as Hong Kong, Russia’s war in Ukraine and human rights.”
Britain has been alarmed by China’s curbing of civil freedoms in Hong Kong, which was under UK control until 1997, as well as its treatment of the Uyghur people and other Muslims in its western Xinjiang region.
It has also been dismayed — along with other western nations — by China’s decision to take a neutral stance over the Ukraine conflict and to maintain close links with Moscow.
But China remains a major trading partner for the UK. One Downing Street aide said Starmer, Britain’s first Labour prime minister for 14 years, wanted to deal with China in the same “pragmatic” way that he had approached government in general. “We want to be pragmatic, serious, respectful, that’s the way we want to govern,” they said. “The relationship has to be for the long term if we’re going to make it a fruitful one.”
Allies said that the phone call arose from a brief meeting between Starmer and China’s vice-president Han Zheng at the Paris Olympics.
Xi cited both countries’ status as permanent members of the UN Security Council and urged the UK to “work together to promote world peace”.
Relations between China and the UK have cooled considerably since former Tory chancellor George Osborne sought a “golden era” of bilateral relations a decade ago.
But Beijing is keen to court European countries and mend fences with US allies as it seeks to counter what it sees as Washington’s efforts to contain it using export controls on technology and military alliances in the Asia-Pacific.
Beijing is also concerned by the Aukus deal, in which the UK and US entered an agreement for advanced nuclear submarines with Australia.
Henry Wang Huiyao, founder of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, said China saw the UK as an important potential interlocutor with the US and a possible partner in peace efforts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Given the uncertainty looming over the US presidential election, in which Donald Trump has promised higher tariffs on trading partners if he returns to power, China also wanted Britain’s support as a nation that believed in free trade, Wang said.
“I think it’s good to maintain good relations with China, to improve the relations, to prepare for some uncertainties across the Atlantic,” Wang said.
