Category World News

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer is on a three-day state visit to China as he seeks to deepen economic and security ties with the world’s second-largest economy after years of acrimonious relations.

This is the first trip by a UK prime minister to China since Theresa May met Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2018.

Here’s what you need to know about the trip aimed at mending ties at a time of global uncertainties:

What’s on Starmer’s agenda for China?

The UK PM met Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Thursday. He will next head to Shanghai to meet British and Chinese business leaders, according to his official itinerary.

After their meeting on Thursday, Starmer and Xi called for a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two nations.

“China-UK relations experienced setbacks in previous years, which were not in the interests of either country,” Xi said. “In the current complex and ever-changing international situation … China and the UK need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to maintain world peace and stability.”

In his opening remarks, Starmer told Xi the two nations should “work together on issues like climate change, global stability during challenging times”.

The prime minister is accompanied by a delegation of nearly 60 representatives of businesses and cultural organisations, including banking conglomerate HSBC, pharmaceutical giant GSK, carmaker Jaguar Land Rover and the UK’s National Theatre.

Starmer told Bloomberg there will be “significant opportunities” for UK businesses in China in an interview this week in the run-up to his trip.

His trip is also expected to mark a reset in UK-China relations, which have been strained in recent years. Starmer underlined his intentions during his meeting with Xi on Thursday.

“China is a vital player on the global stage, and it’s vital that we build a more sophisticated relationship where we can identify opportunities to collaborate, but of course, also allow a meaningful dialogue on areas where we disagree,” Starmer told Xi, according to the Reuters news agency.

Why does the UK want to reset its relationship with China?

Starmer has framed his trip to China as a pragmatic move despite ongoing concerns back home about Beijing’s human rights record and potential national security threat.

“Like it or not, China matters for the UK,” Starmer said in advance of his trip to Beijing.

“As one of the world’s biggest economic players, a strategic and consistent relationship with them is firmly in our national interest. That does not mean turning a blind eye to the challenges they pose – but engaging even where we disagree,” he said.

China has rejected the allegations of human rights violations in parts of the country.

While few details have been released yet, Jing Gu, a political economist research fellow at the UK’s Institute of Development Studies, said reviving economic ties would require expanded “market access, predictable regulation and fair treatment of UK firms” alongside clear “guardrails”.

“This is not a question of being ‘pro-China’ or ‘anti-China’,” she said in a statement.

China offers a potential economic lifeline to the UK, whose economy has struggled in the decade since it embarked on its departure from the European Union in 2016.

A report by the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in the United States estimated last year that Brexit reduced UK gross domestic product (GDP) by 6 to 8 percent, with the impact accumulating gradually over time. Investment is also down 12 to 18 percent, according to NBER estimates, and employment is down 3 to 4 percent.

The UK’s GDP is estimated to grow 1.4 percent in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs, as it faces new economic challenges from US President Donald Trump’s decisions and announcements.

The UK was not exempt from Trump’s tariff war despite its decades-long “special relationship” with the US. As a NATO member, the UK has also watched with alarm as Trump recently threatened to annex Greenland and impose up to 25 percent tariffs on any country that opposed him.

Starmer is not the only US ally looking to diversify economic ties. His trip to China follows in the footsteps of French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

What strained the UK’s relationship with China?

The UK has longstanding concerns with China’s human rights record, but its relationship with Beijing took a turn for the worse after mass antigovernment protests swept Hong Kong, a former British colony, in 2019.

The UK was alarmed by the political crackdown that followed the 2019 protests and Beijing’s decision to impose legislation in 2020 that criminalised “secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security”.

In the aftermath, the UK opened a special immigration scheme for the citizens of Hong Kong born before the city’s 1997 return to Chinese sovereignty. British officials have continued to criticise Hong Kong’s national security trials, including the prosecution of pro-democracy businessman Jimmy Lai, who is a UK citizen.

Allegations of Chinese spying in the UK and China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war have also frayed the ties.

Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, told Al Jazeera that he did not expect any concessions in this area during Starmer’s visit. “Beijing will work to support Starmer to present the visit as a success, but it will not make any concession in areas that matter to China, such as human rights,” he said.

What about security concerns?

Concerns about Chinese spying have been a front-page issue in the UK over the past year, with the head of the domestic intelligence agency MI5 recently saying “Chinese state actors” pose a national security threat “every day”.

Despite these worries, Starmer’s government this month approved Beijing’s plan to open a “mega embassy” in London that critics say could become a hub for espionage in Europe.

The embassy’s approval also follows the collapse of a legal case against two British men charged with spying for China. The decision by prosecutors to withdraw charges at the eleventh hour remains highly controversial in the UK.

China has denied the spying claims, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling them “unfounded” accusations.

Starmer’s trip, however, emphasised areas of potential security cooperation between China and the UK.

Following his meeting with Xi, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that law enforcement would cooperate with Chinese authorities to stem the flow of synthetic opioids into the UK and cut off the supply of small boat engines to criminal gangs.

Engine-powered boats are used to smuggle people across the English Channel, according to Starmer’s office.

The agreement will include “intelligence sharing to identify smugglers’ supply routes and direct engagement with Chinese manufacturers to prevent legitimate businesses being exploited by organised crime”, his office said.

Palestinians in Gaza are waiting with uncertainty for the partial Israeli reopening of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, a vital link between the Strip and the outside world. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud has been speaking to those hoping to be reunited with family members after two years of genocide.

Israeli forces have detained dozens of people after storming several areas across the occupied West Bank, including the home of a Palestinian man who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Bethlehem.

The latest raids early on Thursday come as Israeli settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, a gravesite believed to be the burial place of Joseph, the father of Jesus, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

At about dawn, the Israeli army deployed several military vehicles and soldiers as they targeted the towns of Attil and Deir al-Ghusun north of Tulkarem, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, quoting residents from the area.

In ad-Dhahiriya village on the outskirts of Hebron on Wednesday, residents buried a Palestinian youth, who was killed the previous night in a raid by the Israeli security forces.

Israel’s military crackdown across the occupied West Bank has escalated to the highest levels in decades since October 2023, as the army and settlers have intensified their attacks on Palestinians, with Israel expanding its settlements in the territory, which are illegal under international law.

Settlers have been emboldened by the far-right government and have been rampaging across Palestinian lands with impunity, often with the military’s backing, killing and injuring civilians and destroying their property. The United Nations says attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank have reached unprecedented levels.

Meanwhile, some Israeli troops were deployed to Nablus to secure the Christian holy site, Joseph’s Tomb, after it was reportedly stormed by Israeli settlers.

According to Al Jazeera Arabic, members of the Knesset and settler leaders were among those involved in the storming of the burial ground until early on Thursday.

In recent days, Israeli settlers were also accused of arson in three villages in Masafer Yatta.

In one of the latest raids on Thursday, several young men were detained for interrogation as Israeli forces searched dozens of homes in both towns of Attil and Deir al-Ghusun, Palestinian sources told Wafa.

Among those detained in Attil was a young man who was previously injured by Israeli gunfire near the Tulkarem refugee camp last December.

The Tulkarem governorate, including the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, has been subjected to Israeli military operations for the last 368 days, according to Wafa.

Also in Nablus, Mohammad Azem, head of Sebastia municipality, told Wafa that Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned factory.

Earlier in the night, the towns of Sa’ir and ash-Shuyukh, northeast of Hebron, were also raided by Israeli forces.

In Sa’ir, the raiding forces targeted the home of Qusay Halaika, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday at Al-Anfaq checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Wafa reported that two of Halaika’s brothers were arrested during the raid.

Sources told Wafa that Halaika was left bleeding on the ground after Israeli authorities shot him multiple times.

Israeli media quoted authorities as saying that Halaika was shot after an attempted stabbing attack.

A short video clip posted on X showed Halaika apparently fending off someone and then running away before he was shot.

Meanwhile, in the Jabal Johar area of the city of Hebron, Israeli forces seized a five-storey residential building belonging to the Rajbi family, forcing residents to leave their property, according to Wafa.

Elsewhere in the occupied territory, Israeli forces withdrew on Wednesday night from the town of Hizma after a two-day siege.

According to witnesses, Israeli forces interrogated more than 100 people and detained at least 13, including a pregnant woman and her husband, before leaving.

Hizma Mayor Nawfan Salah al-Din told Wafa that the Israeli soldiers also seized at least 35 vehicles and motorcycles.

Two Muslim women who were kicked and hit by a police officer in Utrecht have made a formal complaint, accusing the officer of racism.