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Keir Starmer has taken a major step towards rapprochement with China, opening the door to a UK visit from Xi Jinping in a move that drew immediate anger from British critics of Beijing.
During the first visit by a British prime minister to China in eight years – a period which Starmer described as an “ice age” – he said talks with the Chinese president had left the bilateral relationship in a stronger place.
However, while Starmer and his team were flaunting the results of the visit – including a visa waiver, a cut in whisky tariffs and economic cooperation agreements – there was growing concern in the UK over the prospect of a return trip.
While travelling to Beijing, Starmer had said the UK government would remain “clear-eyed and realistic” about national security threats from China, despite Beijing’s espionage activities in the UK and imposition of sanctions on British MPs.
But, asked whether Starmer would like Xi to visit the UK, his official spokesperson said: “The prime minister has been clear that a reset relationship with China, that it’s no longer in an ice age, is beneficial to British people and British business. I’m not going to get ahead of future engagements, we’ll set those out in the normal way.”
Five Conservative MPs, who are some of the most vocal critics of Beijing in parliament, and two peers are among nine Britons who had sanctions imposed on them by China in 2021 in retaliation for measures taken by the UK over human rights abuses against the Uyghur people.
It would be politically challenging for Starmer to invite Xi to the UK while the sanctions remained in place – although No 10 said progress had been made on this in the talks – and while Chinese diplomats are banned from parliament after a spying row.
The first, and last, time Xi travelled to the UK was for a state visit in 2015, at the height of the “golden era” in relations under the then prime minister, David Cameron, when the pair visited a pub near Chequers for a pint of ale.
Tim Loughton, the former Tory minister who is one of those sanctioned by China, said offering the president a visit would be a “definite red line and he [Xi] would in any case have to be banned from the parliamentary estate, as is the ambassador whilst we remain sanctioned”.
He added: “There would also be a row over allowing demonstrations when last time Tibetans were disgracefully kept out of sight and arrested by heavy-handed police.”
Loughton said other conditions should be set on any visit, including freeing the pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, whose fate was also raised by Starmer with Xi.
Another sanctioned politician, Neil O’Brien, a shadow minister for policy, said it would be strange to offer Xi a visit when the Chinese ambassador was “banned from parliament because of multiple rounds of spying on MPs”.
“I obviously think the government’s strategy of sucking up to them while they sanction us is a mistake,” he added.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: “Keir Starmer seems incapable of acting in Britain’s national interest. We should not roll out the red carpet for a state that conducts daily espionage in our country, flouts international trading rules and aids Putin in his senseless war on Ukraine. We need a dialogue with China, we do not need to kowtow to them.”
Luke de Pulford, the executive director of the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China, said the economic powerhouse had “treated the UK like a middle power and made a lot of demands” before Starmer’s visit to Beijing.
He said a visit from Xi would “feel very uncomfortable and represent a complete volte face on human rights by Labour” given the party appeared to say while in opposition that there was a genocide against Uyghurs.
Before their talks, Starmer told Xi he wanted a “more sophisticated” relationship between the two countries. “It is with the British people in mind that I am here today. I made the promise 18 months ago when we were elected into government that I would make Britain face outwards again.
“Because as we all know, events abroad affect everything that happens back in our home countries, from prices on the supermarket shelves to how secure we feel.”
The Chinese leader said the UK’s relationship with his country had gone through “twists and turns” over the years but that a more “consistent” approach was in both their interests.
Xi said the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences”. He appeared to reprimand Badenoch for her criticism of Starmer’s visit.
Starmer had begun the three-day trip by saying he wanted to bring “stability and clarity” to the bilateral relationship after years of “inconsistency” under the Tories when it went from “golden age to ice age”.
