British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a speech on foreign policy on December 1 at the Lady Mayor’s Banquet at the Guildhall, London. The major part of his speech related to China.
Starmer said that the US, the EU and China are the three global giants today, and that the absence of the UK’s engagement with China should not continue. He said the UK needs to engage with China and work and trade with China. At the same time, he claimed that China poses “national security threats” to the UK and that the UK will continue to take measures in response. He also touched upon issues related to Hong Kong and other matters.
In response, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in London said that China firmly opposes the erroneous remarks in Starmer’s speech that spread the so-called “China threat,” make groundless accusations against China, and interfere in China’s internal affairs.
Reporting these developments, the Chinese newspaper Global Times quoted Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, as saying that Starmer’s remarks amount to a “have-it-both-ways” strategic calculation: he seeks to constrain China’s development space and international influence to satisfy domestic hardliners, while still hoping to extract economic benefits from China.
Starmer, who it is understood hopes to visit China at the end of January 2026, bemoaned the flip flops of previous Conservative governments with regard to China policy, ‘from golden age to ice age’, and noted:
“The result is that, whilst our allies have developed a more sophisticated approach, the UK has become an outlier. President Trump met President Xi in October and will visit China in April. Since early 2018, President Macron has visited China twice, and he’ll be again there later this week. German leaders have visited four times, and Chancellor Merz will be there in the New Year. Yet, during this same period, no British Prime Minister has visited China.”
Professor Li’s response is that Starmer’s apparent “envy” of the frequent visits to China by French and German leaders underscores how Europe is relying on active engagement with Beijing to advance its own strategic autonomy. France and Germany have strengthened their interactions with China to safeguard their national interests, while the UK, constrained by its tendency to follow the policy frameworks of another country (referring to the United States), has struggled to escape the passive role of a “political dwarf.”
He noted that deepening engagement with China is an essential path for any European country seeking genuine strategic autonomy – and in this regard, the UK has much to learn from France and Germany.
The following article was originally published by Global Times. The comment from the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy may be read in full here. For reference purposes, the full text of Starmer’s speech may be found here.
China firmly opposes the erroneous remarks in UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s speech that spread the so-called “China threat,” make groundless accusations against China, and interfere in China’s internal affairs, a spokesperson from Chinese Embassy in the UK said after Starmer made remarks claiming China poses security threats but urging deeper business ties, along with remarks related to Hong Kong and other issues.
On Monday, during a foreign policy speech at the Lady Mayor’s Banquet in the City of London, Starmer said that the US, the EU and China are the three global giants today, and that the absence of the UK’s engagement with China should not continue.
He said the UK needs to engage with China and work and trade with China. At the same time, he claimed that China poses “national security threats” to the UK and that the UK will continue to take measures in response. He also touched upon issues related to Hong Kong and others.
In response, a spokesperson from Chinese Embassy in the UK said on Tuesday that facts have fully demonstrated that China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order. On issues of peace and security, China has the best track record among major countries. China’s development poses no threat to any country, but instead brings opportunities for common development to all.
The spokesperson urged the UK to pursue a positive and pragmatic policy towards China, and work with China in the same direction to steer China-UK relations onto a path of sound and steady development.
Starmer’s remarks amount to a “have-it-both-ways” strategic calculation: he seeks to constrain China’s development space and international influence to satisfy domestic hard-liners, while still hoping to extract economic benefits from China, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
At the same time, Li noted that Starmer appears to acknowledge the reality that successive British governments have been inconsistent in their China policy — and seems aware that such an approach ultimately harms the UK.
In what Reuters described as “one of his clearest attempts to explain his approach to China,” Starmer said in a speech to business leaders in London’s historic financial district that Britain’s relationship with China had for too long “blown hot and cold.”
“It’s time for a serious approach, to reject the simplistic binary choice, neither golden age nor ice age, and recognize the plain fact that you can work and trade with a country while still protecting yourself,” Starmer said.
However, failing to navigate a relationship with China would be “a dereliction of duty,” the prime minister said, when China is a “defining force in technology, trade and global governance,” BBC reported.
Building a careful relationship would instead bolster the UK’s place as a leader on the international stage and help secure UK national interests, he claimed, while still recognizing the “reality” that China “poses national security threats.”
The BBC noted that the UK Prime Minister’s speech follows an MI5 alert about Chinese spies targeting MPs and parliamentary staff, and comes less than a fortnight before a decision on whether China gets the green light to set up an embassy in the capital despite security concerns.
In response to the MI5’s accusation, Mao Ning, a spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on November 19 that China has no interest in collecting the “intelligence” from the UK Parliament and urged certain individuals in the UK to stop engaging in such baseless and self-projected nonsense.
Calling the previous Conservative government’s lack of engagement with China “a dereliction of duty,” Starmer said that since 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron had visited China twice and German leaders had visited China four times. But the last British leader to visit China was former prime minister Theresa May in 2018, according to Reuters.
Starmer is preparing to visit China next year, Reuters quoted sources as saying, following trips by at least four cabinet ministers since Labour was elected last year.
Starmer’s apparent “envy” of the frequent visits to China by French and German leaders, Li said, underscores how Europe is relying on active engagement with Beijing to advance its own strategic autonomy. France and Germany have strengthened their interactions with China to safeguard their national interests, while the UK, constrained by its tendency to follow the policy frameworks of other country, has struggled to escape the passive role of a “political dwarf.”
Li noted that deepening engagement with China is an essential path for any European country seeking genuine strategic autonomy — and in this regard, the UK has much to learn from France and Germany.
