China wants to rebuild UK relationship as Trump tensions mountpublished at 13:11 GMT

13:11 GMT

Stephen McDonell
China correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Before Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing, an official question and answer document was released including this statement from China’s commerce ministry spokesperson:

"Amidst escalating global trade protectionism, both China and the UK uphold free trade and the multilateral trading system."

So, if China and the UK uphold free trade, who doesn’t, according to Beijing? Although he wasn't named, it’s pretty clear - Donald Trump.

China’s ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, has also written in The Times newspaper, external that "China and the UK do not see eye to eye on every issue".

Given the tensions between Beijing and London in recent years that would be putting it mildly.

Only a few years ago, Chinese staff were being condemned in Britain for dragging a protester inside the grounds of the consulate in Manchester; Hong Kong human rights abuses have generated ongoing tensions; China’s tech giant Huawei was banned from building the UK’s 5G network over security concerns; and on the list goes.

However, this is a different time – after a period in the deep freeze, the Communist Party wants to rebuild links with the likes of Australia, Canada and Britain and the ambassador’s piece reflects this.

He also wrote that "countries with a sense of responsibility should discern right from wrong and stand in solidarity to uphold the post-Second World War international order… the UN charter… multilateral trading system… the WTO".

The simple message: the UK and China are the adults in the room in contrast to, you know who.

We're now pausing our live coverage - thanks for joining us. For more on this story, take a look at analysis from China correspondent Laura Bicker.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, PA Media

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in Beijing - the first visit to China by a UK prime minister in eight years.

Tomorrow, he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for talks on trade, investment and national security. Later on, the trip will take him to Shanghai for business engagements - here's the itinerary.

Starmer says he wants to achieve a "comprehensive and consistent approach to China", rather than veering "from golden age to ice age". And the mood has appeared jovial so far, with the PM even cracking a joke over his plane's tannoy before the delegation landed in Beijing.

But the trip is far from straightforward - highlighted by the fact that the UK team is using "burner" phones and temporary email addresses due to spying fears.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said she would not be going to Beijing if she were prime minister today, and has called Starmer "too weak". But the PM's argument is that the trip will lead to financial benefits "back at home".

The tricky politics of working with Beijingpublished at 12:53 GMT

12:53 GMT

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

For a UK prime minister, the politics of engaging with China is tricky.

The Conservatives trumpeted their "Golden Age" when David Cameron was prime minister. But China’s crackdown in Hong Kong, its growing repressions in Xinjiang and Tibet, and its targeting of critics at home and abroad all cemented the perception of China as a rival and threat.

The pandemic stopped many face-to-face contacts. But so too did the politics inside the Conservative party, and the churn of its leaders.

A significant faction of ‘China hawks’ among Tory MPs meant ministers, even when they felt inclined to, decided against meetings with Chinese counterparts.

Keir Starmer’s trip is, in his words, about ending this "Ice Age", having regular contact and building a more pragmatic policy.

His critics say it is tantamount to caving to Beijing. But, in security terms, Labour hasn’t lowered the perception of the risks China poses. If anything, there is an even more acute awareness now.

The government’s view is that China can’t be ignored. So, the new approach is driven by the belief that only by sitting across the table can the challenges be confronted, the problems raised, the opportunities grasped.

China has economic challenges - but its GDP growth outstrips the UK'spublished at 12:44 GMT

12:44 GMT

Stephen McDonell
China correspondent

As Keir Starmer rallies British business leaders in Beijing, we can say China’s economy remains amazingly resilient in some areas - but, in others, stuck in a rut.

The country’s exports have surprised most observers. Even the chaos of Donald Trump’s tariff war could not put a dent into the volume of stuff China is selling to the rest of the world.

But when it comes to domestic consumption, the word most often used here to describe it is sluggish.

Chinese people are known to be very cautious with spending when financial strains start to build on the household, and that is what we are seeing now, especially with the property crisis eating into the value of their home.

There are more university graduates than good jobs to accommodate them and studies have shown that the number of delivery drivers with a master’s degree has escalated dramatically. Over recent years, youth unemployment has been around 20%, more recently dropping to around 17%, which is still high.

In addition, local government debt remains stubbornly high. And yet, with all its challenges, China recorded an official GDP growth rate of 5% for last year (compared to forecast UK growth of 1.5% for 2025, external).

Analysts have questioned the veracity of this country’s statistics - given that the annual GDP has a habit of coming in bang on what the government predicted it would - but you can see with your own eyes that the economy is not about to fall over, despite the considerable pressures on it.

As for companies wanting to sell into this huge market, they know that even the smallest percentage uptick in Chinese sales can mean moving a lot of goods because of the size of the population.

British businesses realise this - and that is why they are accompanying UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his visit in such big numbers.

We have just had the first comments from the prime minister after his delegation landed in Beijing.

Addressing business delegates in the lobby of their hotel in Beijing, the PM says that "on this delegation, you're making history. You're part of the change that we're bringing about".

Starmer continues: "We are resolute about being outward-looking, about taking opportunities, about building relationships ... and always being absolutely focused on our national interest."

While travelling to China by plane earlier, Keir Starmer spoke about the recent fatal shootings by federal agents in Minnesota, in the US.

Speaking to reporters, he said the incidents were "obviously concerning," but added: "I'm not going to give a running commentary on what's happening in other countries."

The PM continued: "I don't think anybody could see some of the footage and not say it's concerning, but I'm not claiming to have seen all the footage and all the detail, but of what I have seen, I'd say it's concerning."

A constant tug-of-warpublished at 11:46 GMT

11:46 GMT

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Britain’s relationship with China can be characterised as a constant but behind-the-scenes tug of war.

It is between, on the one hand, the enormous economic benefits of trading with the world’s second largest economy and, on the other, the profound concerns over Beijing’s espionage, human rights record and intellectual property theft.

No government has yet been able to find the magic formula for getting this right.

While Europe is slowly weaning itself off Russia’s oil and gas supplies, China is simply too big and too important a market to ignore.

Yet at the same time China remains the No.1 priority for MI6, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, taking up more of its officers’ time than any other nation, even Russia.

There are the obvious concerns – the parts of the ‘iceberg’ above the waterline that are visible to everyone – such as the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, the oppression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province, the takeover and colonisation of reefs in the South China Sea.

Then there are the less visible but no less concerning issues such as the alleged hacking of British politicians’ phones, the targeting of Chinese democracy activists living in the UK and perhaps above all, Beijing’s insatiable appetite for acquiring quite staggering amounts of data from around the world.

Much of this is encrypted, only to eventually be decrypted by quantum computing at a future date.

Image source, Getty Images

Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative leader, says the prime minister should not be visiting China given their recent actions.

He says China is carrying out a “real crackdown” on Hong Kong dissidents living within the UK “without apology”.

These dissidents are being threatened in the UK and facing demands to return to China or face "punishment", he tells the BBC's Politics Live.

“This is the ground level we are at at the moment - do you trust a government like that to ever stick to an agreement?” he asks.

Image source, Reuters

China's leader Xi Jinping has in recent weeks received various heads of government, who, like Keir Starmer, are seeking to strengthen trade ties with Beijing.

Over a week ago, Xi struck a deal with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to lower tariffs. Carney was the first Canadian leader to visit China in nearly a decade.

China is expected to lower levies on Canadian canola oil from 85% to 15% by 1 March, while Ottawa has agreed to tax Chinese electric vehicles at the most-favoured-nation rate, 6.1%.

The deal could also see more Chinese investments in Canada, right on US President Donald Trump's doorstep.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Starmer's three-day visit to China comes with the additional challenge of keeping the US on side.

Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if the country struck a trade deal with Beijing.

That was days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited China himself and announced he had agreed a "strategic partnership" with the country - and to reduce tariffs.

Starmer has insisted the UK will not be forced to "choose between" China and the US, amid rising trade tensions between the two superpowers in recent years.

The UK would maintain "close ties" with the US on business, security and defence, he said, but added that "sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China... wouldn't be sensible".

Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, however, has told the BBC the prime minister is facing "a real diplomatic tightrope".

"There will be some benefits of course from more trade with China, but there's also a huge amount of risk," he says.

Image source, PA Media

Back in the UK, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she would not be going to Beijing if she were prime minister today.

"I don't think that this is the time to do that. We need to be talking to those other countries who are worried about the threat China is posing to them," she says in a speech in Westminster.

She highlights Japan, Australia, Brazil and European countries as those the UK should be talking more to, not the country that is "doing everything it can to undermine our economy".

She calls on the prime minister to "show strength" and suggests he should not be approving a "super embassy" which she says many people think would become a "spy hub".

• For context: The UK government has recently approved China's plans for a huge new embassy in central London

Peter Hoskins
Business reporter, Singapore

What are the differences between the economies of the UK and China?

For starters let's look at their relative sizes. Last year, the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) stood at about $4tn (£2.9tn). That's dwarfed by around $20tn for China.

They're also growing at very different rates. The UK expanded by roughly 1.5% in 2025. Meanwhile, Beijing says its economy grew 5%. But to be fair, that kind of gap is not unusual when comparing a highly-developed economy like the UK with one that's still developing.

Those differences go on, from China's vast manufacturing base to its domination of the world's rare earths market.

And then there's the small matter of China operating a socialist market economy - a hybrid system that blends centralised state planning with market forces, whereas Britain is a far more liberal market economy.

Image source, PA Media

It is now the evening in Beijing, meaning much of the diplomacy of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's trip will take place tomorrow.

Here's what we know about his agenda:

• Starmer will meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Thursday for talks on trade, investment and national security
• The PM will then travel to Shanghai for a range of engagements with British and Chinese businesses - he will be joined by Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle and Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby
• After visiting Beijing and Shanghai, he will then fly on to Japan to meet with the country's new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi,in Tokyo

China has incentives to forge closer ties with the UK, both economically and politically, says Dr Yu Jie, a senior research fellow on China at Chatham House

Economically, China's current investment in the UK is "very minimal", at only about 0.7% of the direct foreign investment into the UK.

But it's for this reason, alongside the current state of the Chinese economy, that Beijing and China's corporations see the UK as a destination for investment, she adds.

She says that China may see the UK as a stable partner that can bring "order and organisation", amid the "disruption" of US President Donald Trump's foreign policy.

Starmer visit important for Beijing's global opticspublished at 09:59 GMT

09:59 GMT

Laura Bicker
China correspondent

China believes the UK is too close to the United States and simply follows Washington when it comes to foreign policy.

So this visit for them is partly about the optics, about the prestige of showing images of a British prime minister, a key US ally, touring the Forbidden City and meeting Xi Jinping.

The UK is not one of China's top trading partners, but officials still see London as an important financial heartland and will be keen to do a deal.

China is using its status as the factory of the world to draw western countries a little closer. It wants to be seen as a reliable partner, as Donald Trump threatens trade tariffs.

For Beijing, trade is the key to gaining global standing and influence as it plays the long game in its great power competition with Washington.

We've just seen images of Starmer walking down the stairs of the plane in Beijing.

The PM stepped on to a red carpet and was greeted by delegates from the Chinese government.

Starmer signals that China's size makes it unignorablepublished at 09:34 GMT

09:34 GMT

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The prime minister is trying to reboot relations between the UK and China - and the most visible way of doing that is by visiting China. He is the first British prime minister to go there for eight years.

I was on that trip in 2018 and there was no sense then of how fast relations between the UK and China would cool. We were still in the aftermath of the so-called Golden Era at that point, spearheaded by David Cameron and George Osborne.

Clearly, things have changed dramatically since then.

I don’t think Keir Starmer is intending to signal that he is going back to those days.

What he is trying to say to the British public is that China’s size makes it simply unignorable.

Image source, Getty Images

We can now confirm that Keir Starmer has landed in China, according to our political editor Chris Mason, who is travelling with the PM.

It's just past 17:15local time in Beijing. Starmer is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow.

This is the first time a UK prime minister has visited the country since 2018.

Starmer is travelling with around 60 British business and cultural leaders and hopes to develop trade ties.

Image source, Chris Mason/BBC

Ian Tang
BBC Monitoring

Image source, Getty Images

Ahead of Starmer's arrival in Beijing, China's state media outlets have voiced expectation of improved bilateral relations, even though issues affecting ties remain.

The Global Times says that while China and the UK do not see eye to eye on every issue, both sides "can seek solutions through rational dialogue based on mutual respect and pragmatic cooperation".

The editorial also calls for vigilance "against some voices that exaggerate specific differences and turn them into ideological confrontations".

Several media outlets have republished an article by Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, written for The Times on 27 January, which more or less summed up what Beijing thinks:

"China and Britain don't see eye to eye but we share many interests."