Trump issues warning over UK PM Starmer's 'dangerous' China strategy
US President Donald Trump warned it would be ‘dangerous’ for the UK to do business with China, as Keir Starmer moves to strengthen economic ties with Beijing on the final day of his visit.
The prime minister met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday as he made the case for a ‘more sophisticated’ relationship between the two countries.
Asked by reporters early on Friday about the UK’s efforts to strengthen economic ties with China, Trump expressed disapproval.
‘Well, it’s very dangerous for them to do that, and it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China,’ he said.
He added that Canada was doing ‘poorly’ and said ‘you can’t look at China as the answer’.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited China earlier in January as the two countries sought closer economic ties, reaching a preliminary agreement to cut tariffs on selected goods.
Trump later threatened Canada with a 100% tariff on exports if Ottawa entered into a free trade agreement with China, but Carney denied any such plans.
The US president’s comments come as Starmer concludes his visit to China.
He will meet businesses in Beijing on Friday as he continues his push to bolster economic ties with China on the final day of his visit to the country.
The prime minister will later travel to Shanghai before leaving for Tokyo to meet his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi for a working dinner.
UK officials said the US was aware of Starmer’s trip and his objectives in advanced, and pointed to Trump’s own visit to China expected to take place in April.
Ahead of his trip, Starmer told Bloomberg he would not choose between Washington and Beijing: ‘I’m often invited to simply choose between countries. I don’t do that,’ he said.
‘We’ve got very close relations with the US, of course we want to and we will maintain that business, alongside security and defence.
‘Equally, just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China when it’s the second biggest economy in the world and there are business opportunities wouldn’t be sensible.’
His visit to China’s biggest city and global financial hub will cap a controversial trip during which the prime minister’s political opponents accused him of ‘kowtowing’ to Xi.
Under deals agreed on the visit, tariffs on Scotch whisky are set to be halved to 5% and UK citizens visiting China for fewer than 30 days will no longer need a visa.
Starmer stressed the financial benefits of an improved relationship with China, which is the world’s second-largest economy and a major part of global supply chains, in his meeting with Xi.
He also addressed the UK-China Business Council, where chief executive of Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca PLC Pascal Soriot announced an investment of ¥100 billion, £10.4 billion, in China by 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development.
No 10 also left the door open to a future visit to the UK by Xi, whose last state visit to Britain was in October 2015.
The prime minister’s trip to China is the first by a UK premier since 2018.
Starmer has faced calls to raise the jailing of Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai and the treatment of the Uighur minority with the Chinese leadership.
He said they had a ‘respectful discussion’ on those issues and that this was ‘part and parcel of the reason to engage’.
Downing Street declined to be drawn on details of discussions on contentious issues, including Lai, MPs sanctioned by China, the Uighur community and Beijing’s purchase of Russian oil hit by western sanctions seeking to cripple its war effort in Ukraine.
His official spokesman would not say whether Starmer told the Chinese president that Lai should be released, but said the government’s position calling for his immediate release has not changed.
According to his son, the 78-year-old British national has spent five years in solitary confinement in treatment which amounts to ‘torture’ under Hong Kong’s new national security law.
By Jessica Coates and Nina Lloyd, Press Association
Press Association: News
source: PA
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