Sir Keir Starmer says he does not have to choose between ties with China and US

Sir Keir Starmer is confident he can pursue trade deals with China without upsetting US President Donald Trump.

The Prime Minister will travel to China on Tuesday as he attempts to continue building bridges with Beijing after a freeze in Sino-British relations in the final years of the Conservative government.

Ahead of Sir Keir’s trip, a No 10 source said the Government was “bringing a hard-headed, grown-up approach to our relationship with China” that would chart a “steady, consistent course” with Beijing.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney secured a deal on tariff reduction during his own trip to China earlier this month, during which he suggested Beijing was becoming a more stable and reliable ally than Washington under Mr Trump.

Although the US president was initially positive about the deal, he later threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canada if it went ahead in the wake of Mr Carney’s call for “middle powers” to band together to counter pressure from the US.

In an interview with Bloomberg ahead of travelling to China, Sir Keir said: “I’m often invited to simply choose between countries. I don’t do that.

“We’ve got very close relations with the US, of course we want to and we will maintain that business, alongside security and defence.

“Equally, just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China when it’s the second biggest economy in the world and there are business opportunities wouldn’t be sensible.”

The last governor of Hong Kong said Sir Keir should say “exactly what he thinks” when he meets Chinese leaders in Beijing this week.

Lord Chris Patten said the Prime Minister should not “lean over backwards” to avoid offending China, adding: “The Chinese do business on exactly the same basis as everybody else.”

In an interview with the Press Association, Lord Patten said British policy towards China rested on “a complete falsehood” that “in order to do business with them, we must avoid saying anything they don’t like or doing anything that they don’t like”.

He said: “That is just complete bilge.”

The trip follows the approval of a new Chinese embassy in London and the Prime Minister is due to be accompanied by business leaders as he seeks to improve trading relations with the Asian superpower.

But he also faces pressure from home to raise several difficult subjects with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, including China’s espionage activity, the treatment of the Uighur minority and the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner and British national.

Mr Lai, 78, has been in detention for more than five years, much of that time in solitary confinement, having been arrested in 2020 under Hong Kong’s new national security law.

Lord Patten, who governed Hong Kong from 1992 until it was handed over to China in 1997, said Mr Lai’s case should be “one of the first things” Sir Keir raises with the Chinese government during his visit.

“If he doesn’t raise the Jimmy Lai case, he’s been pathetic,” he said.

“What will not persuade them is if it becomes the ‘oh, by the way’ issue in meetings where you don’t actually raise something until the end as you’re going out, just so you can tell the press you did it.

“You have actually to make clear that you really are concerned about it, and it’s a concern in your Parliament, it’s a concern among public opinion.”

Ministers have previously condemned the Chinese government for its treatment of Mr Lai.

Last month, following Mr Lai’s conviction on sedition and conspiracy charges, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called for his “immediate release” and the Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a China hawk who has been sanctioned by Beijing, called for the Prime Minister to cancel his trip in protest.

Lord Patten told PA he was not opposed to Sir Keir’s trip, but he urged the Prime Minister not to be afraid of offending China.

He said: “You have to say with them, without being impolite, exactly what you think.

“They know we’re different, but they want to have a reasonable relationship with us and, particularly given the state of the world with (US President Donald) Trump, we should want to have a reasonable relationship with them.”

Although Lord Patten said the UK should pursue a good relationship with Beijing, he warned that it was “dim sum we should consume, but with a very long spoon” and warned the Prime Minister to “recognise the realities” of dealing with China.

He told PA: “I don’t think we should kid ourselves that if you’re nice to China, they’re more likely to obey the rules.

“They sign up to agreements and they break them whenever it’s convenient.

“So I’m in favour of trying to have a better relationship with China, but we shouldn’t think that there is some way of cosying up to China and getting them to do what you want them to do in perpetuity, because it doesn’t happen like that.”