Sir Keir Starmer has defended holding talks with China’s president Xi Jinping, telling MPs: “The world is safer when leaders talk.”
The Prime Minister said the two had a “frank, constructive, pragmatic discussion” in the margins of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The talks came a day before China jailed 45 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, which the UK later criticised, and as MPs renewed calls for Hong Kong businessman and British national Jimmy Lai to be released from prison.
Making a Commons statement on the G20 and Cop29 summits, Sir Keir said of the discussions: “This was the first leader-level meeting between the United Kingdom and China for six years.
“We had a frank, constructive, pragmatic discussion. As G20 economies and permanent members of the Security Council, and at a time of huge volatility, we both recognised the importance of engagement.
“I was clear that we will always act in our national interest, we need to work together on challenges like climate change and delivering growth, we agreed a new dialogue on these issues, which the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) will take forward with vice-premier He in Beijing.
“Of course there will continue to be areas where we don’t agree and we will address them clearly and frankly.
“That includes a number of issues on human rights, the sanctioning of members of this House and of course Hong Kong.
“But here too we need to engage. The lesson of history is that we’re better able to deal with problems and the world is safer when leaders talk.
“So we agreed to keep this channel of communications open.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed Sir Keir as to what “tangible benefits” came from his meeting with Mr Xi.
She said: “A day after his meeting with President Xi, in which the Prime Minister said he wanted a respectful relationship, where both countries avoid surprises, 45 pro-democracy campaigners were imprisoned in Hong Kong.
“I was disappointed not to hear the Prime Minister condemn that at the time.”
Conservative former minister Tom Tugendhat accused Sir Keir of bowing “to the people in Beijing”, while former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said Hong Kong refugees were “worried about the Prime Minister’s failure” to condemn China’s incarceration of pro-democracy campaigners.
Mr Tugendhat said any Government minister meeting a Chinese official should first meet the family of Jimmy Lai or someone from Hong Kong living in the UK.
He told MPs: “There are Hongkongers here in the United Kingdom today who are threatened by the Chinese state here in the UK today, and it is (Sir Keir’s) job to defend the people of this country, not to bow to the people in Beijing.”
The Prime Minister replied: “Defending the people of this country is what we do every day. Raising these important issues is the right way to do it. I was very clear about what I raised. It’s a matter of public record, as he will well know.”
Sir Iain, who is one of a number of British parliamentarians sanctioned by China, said President Xi “had put four red lines” for his meeting with the Prime Minister, “one of which was about democracy and human rights, on which he said he would allow no challenge”.
He continued: “Now, during the course of the meeting, what has concerned many Hong Kong refugees here who fled Hong Kong – and I have been in contact with them – they were worried about the Prime Minister’s failure to condemn the arrest of the 45 and to call for their release, and that of Jimmy Lai.”
He added: “Would (Sir Keir) now get to the despatch box and say right now that he, as Prime Minister, condemns the Chinese government for their arrest and incarceration of the 45 peaceful democracy campaigners and call for them to release them and Jimmy Lai immediately because they’re in breach of the Sino-British agreement.”
The Prime Minister replied: “I said I condemned it a moment ago, and I’m happy to say so. I just did and I will say it again.”
He added: “It is important that where we have these significant differences, particularly on issues of human rights, that we have frank, open discussions about them and that is why these matters have been raised repeatedly.”
Labour MP Tony Vaughan asked if the UK is “now in a better position to advance UK interests and to challenge China on important issues such as human rights”.
Sir Keir said: “It’s about getting the balance right and that’s why I took a pragmatic approach in the interests of this country to further our interests and have frank discussions where they are necessary.
“But I do believe that it is better that we meet and engage than we are absent from the international stage.”
