Keir Starmer defends UK engagement with China amid Prince Andrew revelations
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Prime minister ‘pleased with progress’ on ties with Beijing as Tory MPs warn of China’s attempts to infiltrate UK. Keir Starmer has defended his government’s greater openness towards Beijing following revelations about an alleged Chinese spy who forged a close relationship with Prince Andrew, saying it was “important to engage”.
Questioned for the first time about the case, amid calls from some MPs to change his approach on China, the prime minister refused to comment directly on Andrew or the royals, but said he was pleased with what he called progress on ties with Beijing. As part of the partial reset of relations with Beijing, Starmer met China’s president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Rio, the first meeting between British and Chinese leaders in six years. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is expected to visit Beijing soon.
“Of course, we are concerned about the challenge that China poses,” Starmer told a brief press conference in Bergen alongside the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, during a visit centred on cooperation over defence and clean energy. “I had a meeting with the [Chinese] president just a few weeks ago. Our approach is one of engagement, of cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly for example on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should, particularly on issues like human rights, and to compete when it comes to trade.
