In an ideal world – one in which Britain was still in the European Union, could be confident in the enduring strength of the Atlantic alliance, and look forward to a slow but steady dismantling of barriers to global trade under the auspices of a powerful World Trade Organisation – Sir Keir Starmer’s trip to China would be conducted with a degree of national self-confidence.
Of course, Sir Keir’s talks with Xi Jinping could never be a meeting of equals, given that China is, on some measures, the world’s largest economy, and certainly its pre-eminent industrial power, holding the title of “workshop of the world”, long ago held by imperial Britain.
