China, UK eye improved ties through trade
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday in Beijing, Chinese state-run media said, with the two leaders aiming to use increased trade to improve ties strained over issues, such as the human rights situation in Hong Kong.
Starmer, the first British premier to visit China in eight years, is on a four-day trip to the Asian powerhouse through Saturday. He has been joined by a delegation of some 60 representatives of businesses and culture organizations.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing “stands ready to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust” with Britain, “deepen practical cooperation” and “open a new chapter of sound and steady development” of the bilateral relationship.
Starmer’s trip followed Britain’s decision last week to approve the building in London of China’s largest embassy in Europe, despite local concerns that it could be used as a base for spying.
Negative reaction
The visit also comes after US President Donald Trump reacted negatively to proposed closer economic and trade ties between China and Canada following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to the Asian country earlier this month.
Beijing and Ottawa agreed to lower tariffs, but Trump later threatened to impose additional 100-percent levies on Canadian imports if the country makes a trade deal with China.
Britain, a former colonial power that ruled Hong Kong, has opposed Beijing’s tighter control of the semiautonomous region that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, following the massive prodemocracy movement in the city in 2019.
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