British Prime Minister Keir Starmer touched down in Beijing with a business delegation on Wednesday for a three-day visit. 

Starmer is seeking to strengthen political and business ties between the UK and China, as relations between the US and its allies become increasingly strained under Donald Trump. 

Criticized by some opponents at home for not taking a hard enough line on China, Starmer said the UK must remain vigilant on security threats but could not afford to ignore the world's second-largest economy. 

"It doesn't make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury it in the sand when it comes to China: It's in our interests to engage," Starmer told reporters on the flight to China. "It's going to be a really important trip for us, and we'll make some real progress." 

He met Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on the first morning of his trip to China and told the Chinese president he wanted a "more sophisticated" relationship with China.

Telling Xi it had been "too long" since a British prime minister visited the country, he said: "China is a vital player on the global stage and it is vital that we build a more sophisticated relationship."

Xi to Starmer: China, UK must strengthen ties

Chinese President Xi told Starmer that they must work together on global stability, climate change and other issues.

"I have long been clear that the UK and China need a long-term, consistent and comprehensive strategic partnership," he said.

Xi said China's relationship ⁠with the UK had been through "twists and turns" that did not serve the interests of either country. He called for the two countries to fortify relations to counter geopolitical challenges. 

"The current international situation is complex and intertwined. As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major global economies, China and the UK need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation," Xi said.

On Friday, Starmer and a delegation of roughly 60 representatives from business, sport and culture move on to China's financial capital, Shanghai, for talks with executives. 

China courts US allies during Trump upheaval

After several years, primarily during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, when China's government made and requested very few foreign visits, Beijing has extended invitations to a string of international leaders in recent months. 

Delegations from France, South Korea, Ireland and Finland all visited China over the winter.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was there just days before he raised international eyebrows withhis pointed speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos and its not-so-thinly veiled jabs at Trump. Trump subsequently threatened exorbitant tariffs on Canada if Carney goes ahead with a bilateral accord brokered on his visit, albeit only in one of his many, often exaggerated social media posts.

At the end of February, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scheduled to take his own turn to fly to Beijing. 

This flurry of diplomacy comes after China and the United States had a tariff and trade spat of their own last year — with Beijing securing a US climbdown fairly quickly — and ahead of Trump's own planned trip to China, scheduled for early April. 

Sticking points

The recent move to build a new massive Chinese Embassy in London had prompted criticism of Starmer's government back home.

Beyond that, the continued repression of freedoms in Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, could prove a sticking point. However, Starmer refused to be drawn in on whether he would raise the recent conviction of media tycoon Jimmy Lai or other legal and democratic issues during his visit.

Starmer sought to downplay notions that the China visit could endanger Britain's ties with the United States, and the idea Carney raised in Davos about the importance of "middle powers" stepping up more to counter the influence of major powers in the world. 

"I'm a pragmatist, a British pragmatist applying common sense," said Starmer, the first prime minister to visit China since Theresa May in 2018.

Edited by: Sean Sinico, Louis Oelofse