The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In a conversation with Xi Jinping, he touched on controversial topics, which caused British journalists to be thrown out the door.
This is reported by Politico.
As the publication writes, on November 18, the first bilateral meeting of the leaders of China and Great Britain in six years took place. This is called an attempt to "thaw" relations between the countries after the Conservatives were in power in London. Starmer is allegedly looking for ways to accelerate the stateʼs economic growth and deepen relations with Beijing. Journalists were invited to cover the British Prime Ministerʼs speech.
"We want our relationship to be consistent, strong, respectful and, as we agreed, without surprises wherever possible. A strong UK-China relationship is important both to our countries and to the wider international community," Starmer said.
However, he later spoke about human rights, Taiwan, Chinaʼs sanctions against UK parliamentarians and the Jimmy Lai case. Chinese officials then escorted the two British reporters out of the hall.
Keir Starmer also wants to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to restart economic dialogue between the two countries. The talks are important as US President-elect Donald Trump plans to increase trade pressure on China, writes Politico.
According to the publication, relations between London and Beijing were best established in 2015, when David Cameron was the head of the British government. Cooperation between the countries became more difficult under Boris Johnson in 2019-2022.
- Another escalation of tension in relations between Britain and China occurred in the spring of 2024. Then the United States and Great Britain accused China of a large-scale hacking attack that allegedly affected millions of people. Sanctions were imposed on Beijing for this.
- The Telegraph also wrote that Britain suspects Russia, China and Iran of spreading rumors about Princess Kate Middleton in order to destabilize the situation in the country. In May, hackers hacked the servers of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain. The media believe that China may be behind the cyber attack.
- In the summer of 2024, the leader of the Labor Party Keir Starmer became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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