Sir Keir Starmer arrives in China in first visit by British PM since 2018

Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in China on the first visit by a British Prime Minister in eight years.

A delegation of almost 60 representatives of British businesses and cultural institutions is accompanying the Prime Minister as he continues his efforts to build bridges with Beijing.

But concerns over the risk China poses to national security and Xi Jinping’s record on human rights mean Sir Keir’s visit is politically sensitive.

Speaking to reporters on the flight to Beijing, the Prime Minister said: “The evidence there are opportunities is the fact that we’ve got so many CEOs with us on this flight, that we’ve got 60 coming out to explore those opportunities.”

Sir Keir added that this “reflects back at home in terms of the benefit that it brings back to the United Kingdom”.

The head of MI5 Sir Ken McCallum has warned that “Chinese state actors” present a national security threat to the UK “every day”.

Intelligence chiefs have warned Beijing seeks to carry out online espionage, interfere in UK public life and harass and intimidate dissidents in the UK.

The security services have warned that “it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk” from a new Chinese embassy approved for the heart of London

Sir Keir said he would “never compromise national security” in taking the economic opportunities presented by China.

Sir Keir is the first British Prime Minister to visit China since Theresa May in 2018.

The intervening years saw a cooling of relations with China under the Conservatives, before Labour began re-engaging with a series of ministerial visits capped with Sir Keir’s trip.

The Prime Minister said that he wanted “a comprehensive and consistent approach to China”, rather than veering “from golden age to ice age”, as under the previous government.

In the UK, he has come under pressure to raise a series of human rights issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior officials, including the imprisonment of British national and Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and the treatment of the Uighur minority.

But ahead of his meetings with the Chinese leadership, Sir Keir declined to be drawn on what he would seek to raise.

He said: “In the past, on all the trips I’ve done, I’ve always raised issues that need to be raised, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself on the specifics until I’ve had the opportunity.”

Sir Keir added: “Part of the reason for engaging with China is so that issues where we disagree can be discussed, and the issues where we agree can be progressed, and so that’s the approach.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir was wrong to visit China.

Taking questions from journalists after making a speech on Wednesday morning, the Conservative leader said: “You asked, would I be going to China? No, not now, because I don’t think that this is the time to do that. We need to be talking to those other countries who are worried about the threat China is posing to them.”

She said Sir Keir “needs to show strength, not approving a super-embassy which many people think is going to become a spy hub”.