Starmer wants “pragmatic” relationship with China
The Prime Minister told reporters his most important meeting in Rio will be with President Xi of China, as ITV News' Political Editor Robert Peston reports
Sir Keir Starmer will have his first face-to-face, bilateral meeting with President Xi of China on Monday, to establish what he calls “pragmatic” relations with arguably the world’s most powerful leader and a nation that is challenging the US for global leadership.
It is an important first encounter, that will take place in the margins of the G20 world leaders conference in Rio, and a delicate one - because relations between the two countries went from warm to at times hostile during the 14 preceding years of Conservative governments.
On his flight to Brazil and speaking to journalists, the British prime minister said of his planned meeting with Xi: “I’ll be having serious and pragmatic discussions with the President when I meet him”, and they would discuss “international stability, climate and growth”.
Starmer added about China that “we are both global players, both important powers” and “China’s economy is obviously the second biggest in the world, it’s one of our biggest trading partners”.
The mention by Starmer of growth and trade raises the question whether he will be seeking increased investment in the UK from Chinese interests.
This would be controversial because of allegations of human rights abuses by Chinese companies and because of long running concerns that China steals western technology and seeks to undermine our security.
China has been blocked from investing in new nuclear power in the UK and in communications networks.
But in coming weeks, one of the world’s largest online retailers, Shein, is expected to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.
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This deal has been welcomed by Starmer’s government but is at odds with widespread concerns raised about Shein’s human rights record, especially in the US where Shein felt unable to list its shares.
Just 18 months ago, Rishi Sunak, the previous PM, introduced a new coldness into the relationship with China at a summit of the G7 leaders of the world’s largest democracies.
At Hiroshima in Japan, Sunak warned that China posed a “systemic challenge” to “the world order”.
Over the 14 years of Tory governments from 2010, the UK went from seeking the closest possible commercial and diplomatic ties with China, a so-called “golden age” when David Cameron was PM, to a mistrustful relationship with the enormous nation.
Among many Tory MPs, there is now a conviction that China is an enemy of the British state and our values.
The failed candidate to be Tory leader, Tom Tugendhat, has been perhaps the most vocal critic of diplomatic attempts to restore friendly relations with China.
Starmer however is in something of a bind, quite apart from his determination to boost growth in the UK, by hook or crook.
He would also, these days, probably see China as more of an ally in the global struggle to temper climate change than an in-coming US president, Donald Trump, who is a climate-change sceptic.
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