Sir Keir Starmer has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Brazil on Monday, the first time a British premier has shaken hands with the leader since 2018.
The pair talked in Rio de Janeiro on Monday and Sir Keir pledged to have “pragmatic” discussions with the leader of the Asian economic superpower when they speak.
The Xi meeting is one in a series of discussions the Prime Minister is expected to have with world leaders at the two-day summit, with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East likely to be high on the agenda.
Sir Keir said a “strong UK-China relationship is important for both of our countries” and for the “broader international community” as he met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Speaking at the start of the meeting at the Sheraton Grand hotel, the Prime Minister said: “We want our relations to be consistent, durable, respectful, as we have agreed, avoid surprises where possible.”
He added: “The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law.”
The Prime Minister also proposed a full bilateral meeting in Beijing or London.
Journalists were ushered out of the room at the start of the bilateral around the time Sir Keir raised the case of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy activist and British national imprisoned in Hong Kong.
The Prime Minister said: “I’m very pleased that my Foreign Secretary and foreign minister Wang met recently to discuss respective concerns including on human rights and parliamentary sanctions, Taiwan, the South China Sea and our shared interest in Hong Kong. We are concerned by reports of Jimmy Lai’s deterioration.”
The UK-China relationship has deteriorated in recent years, with concerns over security, human rights and the sanctioning of Westminster parliamentarians souring ties with Beijing.
Despite the engagement by the Labour administration, the relationship is still a long way from the “golden era” under the David Cameron and Theresa May administrations.
Trade could be one of the issues that comes up for discussion amid concern over US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on imports.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden had a meeting with Mr Xi on Saturday.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, one of the MPs and peers sanctioned for speaking out on China’s human rights record, told the Daily Mail: “This is very sad. Those suffering genocide and slave labour under the brutal hands of Xi will feel betrayed.
“Starmer will be seen as weak by Xi who will see him as coming to him in a ‘kowtow’ begging for trade.”
Campaign group Amnesty International UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said Sir Keir must raise the case of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy activist and British national imprisoned in Hong Kong.
He said: “The appalling state of human rights across China must be top of the agenda, including raising alarm about the industrial-scale repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, the crushing of press freedom and hounding of activists and critics in Hong Kong and China.
“Prime Minister Starmer must also be clear that China’s campaign of terrorising students and campaigners here in the UK will not be tolerated.”
Opposition frontbenchers criticised the Prime Minister for meeting China’s leader as Mr Lai’s trial is set to begin.
Shadow Foreign Office minister Alicia Kearns told the PA news agency: “On Keir’s first call with Xi he didn’t raise the case of British national Jimmy Lai, and it is quite something now to hold a bilateral meeting with Xi the same week Jimmy will finally be taken out of the torture of private detention only to appear in a show trial whose sole purpose is to prop up Xi and entrench their attempt at strangling media freedoms and basic human rights in Hong Kong.”
Shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat, who has been sanctioned by Beijing, described Mr Lai’s case as a “sham trial”.
He added: “Of course we need to talk to China – our embassy does that every day – but we the first thing we need to do is defend our own people.”
