LONDON/BEIJING, Jan 27 — Prime Minister Keir Starmer will fly to China this evening on the first visit by a British leader in eight years, seeking to mend ties with the world’s second-largest economy and reduce his country’s dependence on an increasingly unpredictable United States. Starmer is the latest in a series of Western leaders to travel to Beijing. His visit comes amid tension between Britain and its longstanding close ally the United States over President Donald Trump’s recent threats to take control of Greenland and other remarks. On a three-day visit accompanied by dozens of business executives and two ministers, Starmer will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and then travel to Shanghai, before a brief visit to Japan.

At the forefront of the visit “will be what both sides make of the current behaviour and posture of the US and Trump,” said Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies at King’s College London. “One of the great anomalies of the current situation is that London is probably closer to Beijing than Washington” on some global issues like AI, public health and the environment. Since being elected in 2024, Starmer has made it one of his priorities to reset ties with China following a deterioration in relations under previous governments because of rows over Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and multiple allegations of espionage and cyberattacks.

Betting on China to boost Britain’s economy

The visit gives China a chance to court another US ally dealing with Trump’s volatile trade policies following that of Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney this month when the two countries agreed an economic deal.

In response to Carney’s visit, Trump threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs — effectively an embargo — on all Canadian goods and products coming into the US if it follows through on the China trade deal.

China sees the trip as a chance to open a “new chapter in the healthy and stable development of China-UK relations”, including deepening practical cooperation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

China’s commerce ministry said that trade and investment deals are expected to be signed during the visit.

Western leaders have had mixed results from their recent visits. While Carney struck a deal there that will slash tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian canola oil, French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in December yielded relatively few economic benefits.

Britain wants closer economic and trade ties with China to help Starmer honour his pledge to improve living standards through investment in public services and the economy. The strategy has drawn fierce criticism from some British and US politicians.

In the 12 months to the middle of 2025 China was Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner, with trade totalling about £100 billion (RM541 billion), according to government data.

Among those travelling with Starmer to China as part of the business delegation will be Brendan Nelson, the chairman of HSBC, and AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot, according to sources.

Sam Goodman, a policy director at the China Strategic Risks Institute think tank in London, said that Britain had so far secured few economic gains from trying to improve relations with Beijing and that it would struggle to replace its economic dependence on the United States.

China accounts for 0.2 per cent of foreign direct investment in Britain while the United States accounts for about a third, and Britain’s market share for goods and services with China fell in the last year, he said.

“We have had a lot of concentrated engagement with this government on China, and the real question from this trip is what was it for?”, he said. “Are there tangible outcomes that really point to meaningful growth in the British economy?”

US warns Canada over China ties

Starmer’s visit comes after his government approved China’s contested plans to build a mega-embassy in the heart of London, rejecting the objections from some politicians who said the new building will make it easier for China to conduct spying operations.

He laid the foundations for his trip last month when he said that China poses national security threats to Britain but that closer business ties were in the national interest.

The visit ⁠also comes at a sensitive moment for relations between Western leaders and the United States because of Trump’s claims that the United States needs to take control of Greenland because China poses a threat in the Arctic. — Reuters