British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China this week, Beijing and Downing Street said Thursday, marking the first by a senior UK official since the election of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July.
China and Britain are seeking to reset ties frayed in recent years by Beijing’s security crackdown in Hong Kong and human rights concerns including in its troubled Xinjiang region.
Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that Lammy “will pay an official visit to China from October 18 to 19”.
Confirming the visit, a Downing Street spokesperson said Lammy will “challenge” China and seek “necessary pragmatic engagement”.
The two sides would “have in-depth exchanges on implementing the consensus reached by their leaders” during an August phone call, Mao said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
“China and the UK are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and major world economies,” Mao said.
“The long-term stable development of bilateral relations accords with the common interests of both countries,” she added.
Beijing hoped to “boost strategic mutual trust and strengthen dialogue and cooperation in all fields”, Mao told reporters.
“China is willing to work with the UK to uphold our position as partners, maintain openness and cooperation… and push for the sound and steady development of China-UK relations,” she said.
“We will challenge China where we need to and we will seek to have a consistent and long-term, strategic approach to managing the UK’s position (on) China,” said the Downing Street spokesperson.
– Strained ties –
In 2015, Britain’s then-prime minister David Cameron hailed a “Golden Age” of ties between London and Beijing, but relations have deteriorated significantly in recent years.
The UK has criticised Beijing’s imposition of sweeping national security legislation in Hong Kong in 2020 following months of pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
London views the move as eroding the city’s rights and freedoms, but Beijing counters that it has restored peace and prosperity to the financial hub after its stability was undermined.
Ahead of the trip, Starmer called for the jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai to be freed from prison in Hong Kong, where the pro-democracy campaigner faces trial.
Last week, Lai’s legal team told reporters in London that they hoped Lammy would put the case “front and centre” during his visit.
A litany of other concerns have also hampered bilateral ties.
The two countries have argued over China’s treatment of minorities in Xinjiang — where Beijing is accused of detaining around one million Uyghur Muslims — and over human rights in Tibet.
There have also been longstanding claims from London about Chinese espionage, including cyberattacks and political interference.
Starmer hit out this week after China held military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that it views as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to seize.
The manoeuvres were “not conducive to peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait, Starmer said.
He also called on Beijing to lift sanctions imposed on a string of UK lawmakers.
China and the UK have also accused each other of espionage, and Beijing has complained that London is following Washington’s hostile line toward Beijing.
Lammy’s Conservative party predecessor in the post, James Cleverly, visited China in August 2023 and held meetings with top officials where he said he raised human rights issues.
He also said he would pursue “a pragmatic working relationship… raising the issues where we disagree”.
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