British PM Keir Starmer’s China visit is the first by a UK leader in eight years and marks a thaw in frosty relations.

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in the first trip of its kind by a British leader in eight years.

The two leaders called for a closer strategic partnership following their meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday.

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Starmer said before his trip that doing business with China was the pragmatic choice and it was time for a “mature” relationship with the world’s second-largest economy.

“I have long been clear that the UK and China need a long-term, consistent and comprehensive strategic partnership,” Starmer said on Thursday.

During their meeting, Starmer told Xi that he hopes the two leaders can “identify opportunities to collaborate, but also allow a meaningful dialogue on areas where we disagree”.

“I think that working together on issues like climate change, global stability during challenging times for the world, is precisely what we should be doing as we build this relationship in the way that I’ve described,” he said in his remarks.

Xi stressed the need for more “dialogue and cooperation” amid a “complex and intertwined” international situation.

“Good things often come with difficulties. As long as it is the right thing to do in accordance with the fundamental interests of the country and its people, leaders will not shy away from difficulties and will forge ahead bravely,” Xi said.

Starmer’s meeting with Xi was to be followed by a second meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang later in the day. He will next head to Shanghai to conclude his three-day visit to China.

The last trip by a UK prime minister was in 2018, when Theresa May visited Beijing.

Strengthening economic and security cooperation has been at the top of Starmer’s agenda, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Katrina Yu.

“[Starmer] has the very big task of bringing this diplomatic relationship out of years of deep freeze, so the focus when he talks to Xi Jinping will be finding areas of common ground,” Yu said from Beijing.

The relationship between the UK and China has been frosty since Beijing launched a political crackdown in Hong Kong, a former British colony, following months of antigovernment protests in 2019.

London has also criticised the prosecution in Hong Kong of the pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is also a British citizen, on national security charges.

In October, the head of the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 said that “Chinese state actors pose” a security threat “every day” following a high-profile espionage case that saw two men charged with spying for China.

Starmer’s trip is also overshadowed by London’s strained relationship with the US under the leadership of President Donald Trump. Their ties have been tested by Trump’s tariff war and his recent threats of annexing Greenland, much to the alarm of NATO members like the UK.

Trump was angered by a similar visit this month to Beijing by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who also sought deeper economic ties with China.

It is unclear how Trump will respond to Starmer’s visit to Beijing, but the UK prime minister said that maintaining a “consistent” relationship with China is “firmly in the national interest”.

Following the Starmer-Xi meeting, the UK announced it would cooperate with Beijing to address the ongoing problem of human trafficking in the English Channel.

The agreement will see UK law enforcement work with Chinese authorities to keep small boat engines – used by smugglers for Channel crossings – out of the hands of criminal gangs, according to Starmer’s office.

Starmer is seeking deeper economic ties with China, as well, which was the UK’s fourth-largest trading partner in 2022, according to UK government data.

Accompanying the prime minister on his trip is a delegation representing nearly 50 UK businesses and cultural organisations, including HSBC, British Airways, AstraZeneca and GSK. They are due to meet with Chinese and UK businesses in Shanghai.