‘Kowtow Keir’ Starmer defends ‘naive’ decision to cosy up to China – as he gifts Man Utd-loving dictator Xi Jinping a prized match ball

Keir Starmer has defended his decision to shake hands with Xi Jinping despite critics warning he was ‘naive’ enough to trust China’s communist dictator.

Sir Keir will meet President Xi early on Thursday morning after becoming the first British Prime Minister to travel to China in eight years.

Kemi Badenoch questioned the decision to go to Beijing and said Britain should instead focus on strengthening ties with its allies ‘concerned about the threat China poses to them’.

President Xi has ordered a brutal crackdown on Hong Kong, in violation of the agreement with Britain, and is accused of leading a genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinxiang province. Concerns about Chinese spying on the UK have led to the Prime Minister and his officials being issued disposable “burner” phones and laptops for the duration of the trip.

Some critics have branded the Prime Minister ‘Kowtow Keir’ over last week’s decision to approve a new mega embassy in the City of London.

But speaking ahead of the meeting with President Xi, Sir Keir said it was time to end the ‘ice age’ in relations with Beijing and pursue ‘huge’ economic opportunities with the emerging superpower.

Addressing a delegation of British business executives traveling with him, he hailed the visit as “historic” and added: “Establishing relations with China is in our national interest.” It is the second largest economy in the world. If you take Hong Kong together with China, it is our third largest trading partner.

‘There are huge opportunities to be had in many different sectors and we see this reflected in the delegation we have.’

Handshake: Sir Keir first met Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024.

China flies Union Jack at Beijing’s Tiananmen Gate to celebrate Sir Keir’s arrival

As a symbol of friendship, Arsenal supporter Sir Keir is expected to present Manchester United supporter President Xi with a valuable match ball from last Sunday’s draw between the sides, which resulted in United’s famous 3-2 victory.

Speaking to reporters en route to Beijing, Sir Keir insisted there was “no evidence” that Chinese spies had hacked his phone, following reports that state-backed hackers had in the past exposed the private communications of close aides to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

It is stated that intelligence sources fear that the operation, which started in 2021, known as Typhoon Salt, will continue.

Former security minister Tom Tugendhat said the Prime Minister had effectively bought a ‘burn plane’ by chartering a commercial jet amid fears that regular government aircraft could be bugged while on the ground in China.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who, like Mr Tugendhat, was sanctioned by Beijing for criticizing China’s human rights record, claimed officials traveled with a tent set up in his room to allow the Prime Minister to dress without being observed.

But when asked about the risk of being hacked by its Chinese servers, Sir Keir told reporters: ‘As you would expect, we have robust plans and security measures in place.’

The Prime Minister will meet President Xi early on Thursday morning and he is expected to push for greater trade access for British firms to support Britain’s slowing economic growth.

Sir Keir is under pressure to take on President Xi over a range of human rights issues, including the treatment of jailed Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai and sanctions imposed on a number of British MPs and colleagues.

Mr Lai’s son Sebastian warned Beijing that his father would become a ‘martyr’ if he was allowed to die in prison and appealed to Sir Keir to help free him.

He told Times Radio: ‘The Prime Minister said my father’s case was a priority… This Government gave them this huge embassy in the middle of London. At least they have no choice but to put a 78-year-old man in very poor health, whom the international community calls for and our country calls for, to be released, on a plane and send him back to London.

‘If we are talking about normalizing relations, this seems like a very simple thing for the Hong Kong and Chinese government to do.’

The Prime Minister told reporters that he would raise ‘issues that need to be updated’. But he refused to describe China’s actions in Xinxiang as ‘genocide’, despite supporting a House of Commons motion on the issue five years ago.

Sebastian Lai appealed to Sir Keir to help free his father, who was jailed by China’s repressive regime over pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong

Ms Badenoch suggested Sir Keir should not have made the 5,000-mile journey.

Speaking at an event in London, the Conservative leader said: ‘Would I go to China? No, not now because I don’t think this is the time to do it. We need to talk to other countries who are concerned about the threat China poses to them.

He added: ‘We need to talk more to countries that align with our interests, not to countries that are doing everything they can to undermine our economy.’

Luke de Pulford, director general of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said China was ‘not that interested’ in investing in the UK except in critical national infrastructure, where it is limited.

‘This renewal of the golden age that the Prime Minister wants to revive will not work,’ he said.

‘We are at the last breath of that naivety in our stance against Beijing. ‘The country doesn’t want it, the Parliament doesn’t want it and most of the people in the Government don’t want it either.’

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader in the House of Commons, said it was a mistake for the Prime Minister to go to Beijing seeking a trade deal “while the Chinese regime still holds British citizen Jimmy Lai captive in prison and the Chinese regime continues to hunt down pro-democracy protesters with bounties on the streets of Britain.”

But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said ignoring China would be a ‘dereliction of duty’ given its huge influence on world events.