{"id":725278,"date":"2026-01-28T00:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725278\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:49:11","slug":"why-britain-seeks-to-take-its-relationship-with-china-to-new-level-as-keir-starmer-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725278\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Britain seeks to take its relationship with China to \u2018new level\u2019 as Keir Starmer visits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Britain is eyeing greater engagement and closer trade ties with China, seeking to steady <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/china-uk-relations?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"noopener\">a relationship<\/a> long marked by volatility, its ambassador to Beijing said, ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s highly anticipated visit.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Peter Wilson told reporters on Tuesday that Britain was taking a long-term \u201cstrategic approach\u201d to China and that London sought \u201ca relationship that is consistent\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cWe want to build the kind of relationship of mutual respect and trust between our leadership that allows us to take this relationship to a new level,\u201d Wilson said when asked how Britain would advance its ties with China.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cStabilise, put in place structures and then do practical things \u2026 It\u2019s a practical, forward-looking approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Beijing\u2019s foreign ministry on Tuesday confirmed that Starmer would pay a four-day visit to China starting Wednesday. It will be the first visit by a British prime minister in eight years.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Wilson said Starmer would be accompanied by a \u201ctop-level delegation of ministers\u201d, including those handling trade and the economy, alongside some 50 businesses and cultural organisations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain is eyeing greater engagement and closer trade ties with China, seeking to steady a relationship long marked&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[3801,748,216054,50455,1395,527,32,393,4884,3749,4582,807,12188,216055,257,1144,712,11655,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-725278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-beijing","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-british-ambassador","13":"tag-canadian","14":"tag-china","15":"tag-conservative-party","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-england","18":"tag-great-britain","19":"tag-hong-kong","20":"tag-human-rights","21":"tag-keir-starmer","22":"tag-labour-government","23":"tag-lewis-neal","24":"tag-london","25":"tag-northern-ireland","26":"tag-scotland","27":"tag-theresa-may","28":"tag-uk","29":"tag-united-kingdom","30":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115969980091434204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}