Starmer says he won’t ‘choose between’ the US and China

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he will not have to “choose” between relations with the US or China ahead of the first visit by a British leader to Beijing in eight years.

Sir Keir said the UK would maintain “close ties” with the US in business, security and defence, but added that “it would not make sense to stick your head in the sand and ignore China”.

The visit to the world’s second-largest economy could bring “significant opportunities” for British companies, he said in an interview with Bloomberg News. Dozens of British businessmen are expected to travel with him.

The trip comes just days after Britain approved controversial plans for a massive new Chinese embassy in London.

The long-delayed decision was made despite opposition warnings that it could be used as a base for Chinese espionage.

“I’m often asked to choose between countries. I don’t do that,” Sir Keir said in the interview.

“I remember when the US was doing the trade deal, everyone was telling me I had to choose between the US and Europe, and I said, ‘I’m not making that choice’.”

“We have very close relations with the United States – of course we want to – and we will continue that work, as well as security and defence,” he said.

“Equally, it wouldn’t make sense to ignore China and bury your head in the sand when it is the world’s second largest economy and has business opportunities.”

Of the delegation traveling with him to China, Sir Keir added: “They understand the opportunities that exist… This does not mean compromising national security; quite the opposite.”

The trip, which included stops in Beijing and Shanghai, came after a tumultuous few weeks in relations between the United States and its allies.

In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on allies who oppose his demand to take control of Greenland and later sparked outrage in the UK by saying NATO troops were “a little behind” from the front line in Afghanistan.

Trump also threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if the country strikes a trade deal with China.

Sir Keir has previously rejected the “isolationism” put forward by opponents of the Chinese government in the UK, saying failure to manage the relationship with China would be a “dereliction of duty”.

“We’ve had heat and cold for years,” he said. “We had a golden age, then we returned to an ice age. We reject this binary choice.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sir Keir suggested he would raise human rights disputes with Beijing, including the fate of Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was found guilty of colluding with foreign powers in December.

Lord Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, told the Press Association it would be “pathetic” if Sir Keir did not raise the case of British national Lai.

Lord Patten continued that Britain’s policy towards China was based on the “fallacy” that “to do business with them we must avoid saying anything they don’t like or doing anything they don’t like”.

He added: “They’re not going to be convinced if it becomes a matter of ‘oh, by the way’ in meetings where you don’t actually bring anything up until the end while you go out just so you can tell the press you’re doing it.”