U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Chinese President Xi Jinping he hopes for “frank, open and honest” talks on areas of disagreement including on Hong Kong, during a phone call likely to be interpreted as laying the ground for a reset between the two countries’ governments.
Starmer’s office said the prime minister also referenced Russia’s war in Ukraine and human rights as issues the U.K. wants to address with China, according to a readout of the two leaders’ conversation on Friday.
“The leaders also agreed on the need for a stable and consistent U.K.-China relationship, including dialog between their respective foreign and domestic ministers,” Starmer’s office said. “They agreed to stay in touch.”
The call between Starmer and Xi comes after people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is considering making a visit to China as part of the new Labour government’s efforts to recalibrate the U.K.’s relationship with Beijing. In the run up to Labour’s landslide victory in the July general election, Starmer said an “audit” of U.K.-China ties would be “one of the first things that we will do.”
If it goes ahead, Lammy’s visit would be the first by a British foreign secretary since James Cleverly went to China a year ago. As under previous Conservative administrations, Starmer’s Labour government faces a dilemma over how to balance economic and trade interests against its defense and security concerns.
In its own readout, the Chinese government said Xi told Starmer that China and the U.K. should push for a stable and mutually beneficial relationship.
“China stands ready to engage in equal dialog with Britain on the basis of mutual respect, enhance mutual understanding and mutual trust, and make mutual benefit and win-win the main tone of China-Britain relations,” Xi said, according to the readout. Xi also said China is willing to expand cooperation with the U.K. in finance, the green economy and on artificial intelligence.
There have been a stream of flash points in the U.K.-China relationship in recent years, including a disagreement over security legislation in Hong Kong that Britain — the former colonial power — says breaches their handover agreement. China countered that the U.K.’s response, including handing out visas to thousands of Hong Kongers, was a violation of the handover treaty.
