Starmer calls for strong UK-China relationship as he meets with Xi in Brazil

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he wanted a strong and durable relationship with China Monday as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Brazil.

It was the first time a British leader has met with Xi in recent years as ties between the two countries deteriorated over security and human rights concerns and China’s support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.

Starmer, who became prime minister in July after his Labour Party won a landslide election victory, is seeking to repair relations with Beijing. The last time a U.K. leader met with Xi was in 2018.

“We want our relations to be consistent, durable, respectful, as we have agreed (and) avoid surprises where possible,” Starmer told Xi during a meeting on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Downing Street said that Starmer wanted a “pragmatic” approach to working with Beijing on global stability, boosting economic ties and especially climate change and the transition to clean energy.

Starmer also raised more thorny issues including concerns over the detention of Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher and activist Jimmy Lai, a U.K. citizen who has been in custody since December 2020. Lai, 76, could face up to life in prison if he is convicted under a sweeping national security law that Beijing has imposed on the former British colony.

Journalists were ushered out of the room at the start of Monday’s bilateral meeting around the time Starmer raised Lai’s case, Britain’s Press Association agency reported.

Starmer “wanted to engage honestly and frankly on those areas where we have different perspectives, including on Hong Kong, human rights and Russia’s war in Ukraine,” his office said in a statement after the meeting.

Xi told Starmer that the U.K. and China have potential for more cooperation despite their differences and should deepen political trust for mutual benefit, according to China’s Xinhua state news agency.

Monday’s meeting came after U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy paid a visit to Beijing last month for talks with his counterpart, Wang Yi.