[🇨🇳] China VS U.K

[Saif]

Date of Event: Apr 14, 2025

Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/china-no-longer-welcome-in-uk-steel-sector-minister-says

China no longer welcome in UK steel sector, minister says
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 13, 2025 21:44
Updated :
Apr 13, 2025 21:44

A general view shows British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, in Scunthorpe, northern England, Britain, March 31, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Dominic Lipinski/Files

China is no longer welcome in Britain's steel sector after the government had to pass emergency legislation on Saturday to ensure control of Chinese-owned British Steel, business minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday.

Reynolds said the refusal of China's Jingye Group (600768.SS) to accept a roughly 500 million pound ($654 million) government aid package last week to stop irrevocable damage to blast furnaces left the government with no alternative to intervening directly.

British Steel was not immediately available for comment outside office hours.

Against a backdrop of global overcapacity in much of the steel industry and challenges from US tariffs, Jingye wanted to import steel from China for further processing in Britain, Reynolds said in an interview with Sky News.

But the closure of blast furnaces at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe - which need to be constantly fuelled and are losing 700,000 pounds a day - would have left Britain as the only major economy unable to produce so-called virgin steel from iron ore, coke and other inputs.

Previous British governments had been "naive" to allow Chinese companies to be involved in the steel sector, Reynolds said.

Large industrial companies such as Jingye Group had direct links to the Chinese Communist Party and China's government would understand why Jingye's proposal was unacceptable to Britain, he added.

"You've got to be clear about what is the sort of sector where we can promote, cooperate; and ones, frankly, where we can't. I wouldn't personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector. I think steel is a very sensitive area," he said.

Jingye bought British Steel from the government in 2020 after the company became insolvent.

Since coming to office in 2024, the Labour government has stepped up engagement with China after tensions under previous Conservative governments over human rights, Hong Kong and latterly restrictions on investment over security concerns.

Reynolds said he viewed other sectors such as car making, life sciences and agricultural products as less sensitive areas for Chinese investment.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves visited Beijing in January and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited London in February to revive talks that were paused for over six years.​

 

[Saif]

UK PM Starmer heading to China aiming to reset ties

This is the first official visit to China by a British premier since 2018

www.thedailystar.net

UK PM Starmer heading to China aiming to reset ties

This is the first official visit to China by a British premier since 2018

By AFP

Reuters File Photo

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer travels to China late Tuesday for the first official visit by a British premier since 2018 as he bids to boost trade ties despite frictions.

Starmer's visit is expected to include a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, when some of those concerns -- including Beijing's alleged rights abuses, the war in Ukraine, and alleged spying -- could be apparent.

The British leader will then travel on to Japan on Saturday for a brief stop there, Tokyo's foreign ministry confirmed.

Starmer "will depart for his travel to China and Japan on Tuesday night", his spokesman told reporters on Monday, without providing further details of the much-anticipated trip.

"You can expect a range of issues to be raised, including but not restricted to trade and investment," he noted.

The visit spotlights Starmer's ambition to reset ties with China, an economic powerhouse, as the UK economy struggles and after relations between London and Beijing sank to new lows under the previous Conservative government.

The announcement of his visit comes less than a week after the British government approved contentious plans to build a "mega-embassy" in the heart of London.

The 20,000-square-metre (235,000-square-foot) site is set to become the largest embassy complex in the UK by area, and one of the largest in the centre of a Western capital.

But it could still face legal challenges and angry residents vowed last week to act.

Starmer himself last month acknowledged that while China provided significant economic opportunities for the UK, it also posed "real national security threats".


'Rethink alliances'

There have also been protests by activists who fear the sprawling site in the historic former Royal Mint, next to the Tower of London, could be used to spy on and harass dissidents.

The UK government has said intelligence agencies have helped to develop a "range of measures" to manage any risks while Beijing has agreed to consolidate its seven current London sites into one, "bringing clear security advantages".

Bilateral relations plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony.

Starmer is also expected to raise the case of Hong Kong media mogul and democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, 78, who is facing years in prison after being found guilty of collusion charges in December.

Starmer's trip follows finance minister Rachel Reeves's visit to Beijing last year, as the centre-left Labour government looks to improve trade relations and fulfil its primary goal of boosting UK economic growth.

The reset has faced domestic pushback, in particular from UK lawmakers who have been sanctioned by China for their criticisms of Beijing's actions in Hong Kong and over rights abuses.

Kerry Brown, who directs King's College London's Lau China Institute, told AFP that Starmer "may as well be getting something in return" for the flak he is taking.

"It is time for the UK government to really show that the reason for a pragmatic relationship with China is that it actually brings results that create jobs, help with the key priority of improving Britain's economy," he said.

Brown also noted it was an "excellent chance to try to work out the shape" of a new global geopolitics emerging due to US President Donald Trump's policies and volatile behaviour.

"Suddenly, we need to rethink the standard patterns and blocks of alliances," he noted.

"So in this context, China might not be an ally, but it is also not an enemy. It is a place that in some ways, has common reason to be as dismayed and appalled by the behaviour of the US as UK and other powers."​

 

[Saif]

Not allies, not enemies: Britain's ties with China

Starmer hopes to boost trade after years of strained relations, but must balance this with security concerns raised in the UK

en.prothomalo.com

Not allies, not enemies: Britain's ties with China

AFP Beijing
Published: 27 Jan 2026, 09: 57

Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer AFP

Britain's Keir Starmer is in China this week, marking the first visit by a UK prime minister in eight years.

It is the latest in a string of Western leaders seeking a rapprochement with Beijing, as US president Donald Trump turns on traditional allies.

Starmer hopes to boost trade after years of strained relations, but must balance this with security concerns raised in the UK over a potential threat posed by China.

Here are the three key questions surrounding the visit:

- Where do relations stand? -

London and Beijing enjoyed what they describe as the "Golden Era" a decade ago -- a time when then-prime minister David Cameron and Chinese president Xi Jinping famously enjoyed beers together at a British pub.

But relations soured since 2020, when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.

Human rights abuses, alleged spying and cyber attacks, and China's perceived support for Russia's war in Ukraine also strained ties.

Nevertheless, China remains Britain's third-largest trading partner, though UK exports to the East Asian country plummeted 52.6 per cent year-on-year in 2025, according to British government statistics.

And in December, Starmer said that it would be a "dereliction of duty" not to engage with Beijing.

- Why is Starmer visiting now? -

Relations began to thaw soon after Starmer took the helm in 2024 following a closed-door meeting with Xi in Brazil in which the UK prime minister said Britain would look to cooperate with China on issues such as climate change.

But a protracted row over Chinese plans to build a vast new embassy in London complicated plans for Starmer to visit.

Beijing purchased the building, on the site of the former Royal Mint, in 2018, but opponents argued that the "mega embassy" will be used for espionage and pressure rights activists in Britain.

The plan was finally approved on Tuesday and made way for China's invitation to Starmer with a UK government spokesperson saying intelligence agencies have plans to "manage any risks".

Starmer's trip also comes as Britain faces a rift with its closest ally, the United States, following Trump's bid to seize Greenland and his brief threat of tariffs against Britain and other NATO allies.

With Trump increasingly tearing apart the global order, "China might not be an ally, but it is also not an enemy", Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London told AFP.

Facing a lacklustre British economy, Starmer will also be looking to seal trade deals to boost growth at home.

- What's on the table? -

Starmer will arrive with an entourage of industry executives hoping to promote British business through a UK-China CEO Council, a body that has lain dormant for years.

Created in 2018, the council once brought business and industry executives from both countries together when relations were in their "golden era".

Starmer is also expected to raise the case of Hong Kong media mogul and democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily tabloid.

The 78-year-old is facing years in prison after being found guilty of collusion charges in December under the new national security law.

Xi and Starmer are also likely to discuss Ukraine, where Beijing is accused of enabling Russia's invasion through its close economic ties to Moscow.

The visit will represent a "shift toward managed re-engagement rather than renewed strategic trust", according to Jinghan Zeng, an international relations scholar at City University of Hong Kong.

While progress could be made on climate change, trade, and people-to-people exchanges, "concrete outcomes will probably be modest", he said.​

 

[Saif]

British PM arrives in China to restore long fraught relations

British prime minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, hoping to restore long fraught relations.

www.newagebd.net

British PM arrives in China to restore long fraught relations
Agence France – Presse . Beijing, China 28 January, 2026, 19:26

Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer receives a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at an airport in Beijing on January 28, 2026. | AFP photo

British prime minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, hoping to restore long fraught relations.

It is the first visit to China by a UK prime minister since 2018 and follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States.

Starmer, who is also expected to visit Shanghai on Friday, will later make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

For Xi, the trip is an opportunity to show Beijing can be a reliable partner at a time when President Donald Trump’s policies have rattled historic ties between Washington and its Western allies.

Starmer is battling record low popularity polls and hopes the visit can boost Britain’s beleaguered economy.

The trip has been lauded by Downing Street as a chance to boost trade and investment ties while raising thorny issues such as national security and human rights.

Starmer will meet with Xi for lunch on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang.

The British leader said on Wednesday this visit to China was ‘going to be a really important trip for us’, vowing to make ‘some real progress’.

There are ‘opportunities’ to deepen bilateral relations, Starmer told reporters travelling with him on the plane to China.

‘It doesn’t make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China, it’s in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security,’ he added.

China, for its part, ‘is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust’, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun reiterated Wednesday during a news briefing.

Starmer is the latest Western leader to be hosted by Beijing in recent months, following visits by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Faced with Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canada for signing a trade agreement with China, and the US president’s attempts to create a new international institution with his ‘Board of Peace’, Beijing has been affirming its support for the United Nations to visiting leaders.

UK-China relations plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony.

They soured further since with both powers exchanging accusations of spying.

Starmer, however, was quick to deny fresh claims of Chinese spying after the Telegraph newspaper reported Monday that China had hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years.

‘There’s no evidence of that. We’ve got robust schemes, security measures in place as you’d expect,’ he told reporters on Wednesday.

Since taking the helm in 2024, Starmer has been at pains to reset ties with the world’s second-largest economy and Britain’s third-biggest trade partner.

In China, he will be accompanied by around 60 business leaders from the finance, pharmaceutical, automobile and other sectors, and cultural representatives as he tries to balance attracting vital investment and appearing firm on national security concerns.

The Labour leader also spoke to Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024.

The prime minister is also expected to raise the case of Hong Kong media mogul and democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, 78, a British national facing years in prison after being found guilty of collusion charges in December.

When asked by reporters about his plans to discuss Lai’s case, Starmer avoided specifics, but said engaging with Beijing was to ensure that ‘issues where we disagree can be discussed’.

‘You know my practice, which is to raise issues that need to be raised,’ added Starmer, who has been accused by the Conservative opposition of being too soft in his approach to Beijing.

Reporters Without Borders urged Starmer in a letter to secure Lai’s release during his visit.

The British government has also faced fierce domestic opposition after it approved this month contentious plans for a new Chinese mega-embassy in London, which critics say could be used to spy on and harass dissidents.

At the end of last year, Starmer acknowledged that China posed a ‘national security threat’ to the UK, drawing flak from Chinese officials.

The countries also disagree on key issues, including China’s close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the war in Ukraine, and accusations of human rights abuses in China.​