LONDON — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London Tuesday, marking the first visit by a Chinese foreign minister to the U.K. in a decade and the highest-level diplomatic contact between the two nations since Britain’s Labour government took office last year.
London, preparing to reassess its China policy, seemed to downplay the visit amid ongoing controversies, analysts said.
2月13日，在中国外交部长王毅访问英国期间，一些来自中国的异议人士在中国驻伦敦大使馆门口抗议，敦促中共当局释放他们所说的政治犯，允许言论自由并实现民主化。中国政府否认中国存在政治犯。一些抗议者对美国之音说明了他们来抗议的原因。更多报道：https://t.co/fcrPNCvyn9 pic.twitter.com/RCDQnAur0O
— 美国之音中文网 (@VOAChinese) February 13, 2025
A “consistent and respectful” relationship
After the meeting, Lammy said he had discussed with Wang about “international security, wars in Ukraine and Middle East,” along with concerns over China’s human rights, the detention of pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong, and Beijing’s sanctions on British lawmakers.
Wang also held a rare informal meeting with Starmer, who briefly joined his meeting with British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, according to a Reuters report, adding Starmer emphasized that the U.K. wants a “consistent and respectful” relationship with China.
Starmer’s spokesperson told reporters that the Prime Minister “reiterated that the U.K. will always engage frankly on areas where our views differ, as part of the stable and regular engagement this government is committed to maintaining with China.”
Starmer emphasized a desire to deepen bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, but his government would continue to voice criticism when necessary, the spokesperson added.
A diplomatic tightrope
Although the Labour government downplayed Wang’s visit, the arrangement still drew criticism and sparked protests on the streets of London.
Grace Theodoulou, a Policy Fellow on China at the Council on Geostrategy, said the U.K. appears to be preparing for a broader recalibration of its China policy, and that signs suggest the British government “does not want to draw attention to Wang’s visit and is perhaps even a little embarrassed by it.”
“Chinese media reported that Wang came at Lammy’s invitation. Why invite a high-level official if you are clearly aware of its controversy? There has been no government press release, which signals that His Majesty’s Government expects criticism from all sides,” she told Voice of America, “This will not put the Labour government in a favorable position when renegotiating trade with China.”
Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency has reported that Britain’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds will visit China later this year.
Former Conservative lawmaker Daniel Kawczynski, who previously served as the U.K. prime minister’s trade envoy to Mongolia, warned against strengthening ties with China given the unresolved issues between the two countries.
“This is today’s China — an economic powerhouse but still controlled by a rigid and repressive Communist Party,” Kawczynski told VOA.
“At the end of the day, there are too many issues between us and China. The Chinese ambassador has been banned from entering the House of Commons. This was unheard of. China is censoring our MPs and has sanctioned those who dare to speak out on issues like Hong Kong, the Uyghurs and the South China Sea. This is totally unacceptable. Even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union didn’t sanction members of Parliament like this. Even from the perspective of the House of Commons alone, our relationship demonstrates our concerns about China,” he said.
Growing up in communist Poland, Kawczynski also raised concerns about China’s control over rare earth resources, saying it could create long-term geopolitical risks for Western economies. The U.K. should prioritize trade with democratic allies such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore over deepening economic ties with China, he said.
Cooperation vs. competition
Amid the controversy, the Labour government appears to be seeking a balance between cooperation and competition with China.
A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office told VOA that Britain will “co-operate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must.”
As the United States and the European Union have taken a tougher stance on Beijing in recent years, the U.K. faces a dilemma between economic interests and national security. Whether Wang’s visit leads to a warming of relations or just a symbolic exchange is yet to be seen.
Protests over human rights
As Wang met with British officials, protesters gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in London. They held signs urging the British government to address China’s human rights issues and criticized the Chinese government’s crackdown on dissent.
“There is no freedom of speech or human rights in China,” said Cheng Xiaodan, a member of a house church in China’s Hunan province. “Friends of mine have been arrested simply for organizing house churches and visiting recently released Christians. We are protesting today in hopes that China can protect freedom of speech and human rights, and end its dictatorship.”
He Zhiwei, a political asylum seeker from Guangzhou, said demonstrators were calling on China to release political prisoners and halt repression in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Taiwan.
“The Chinese government is not just suppressing ethnic minorities, it is also actively erasing other local cultures, including Cantonese,” He said. “I came to the U.K. to speak out for the Chinese people and promote true democracy.”
The Chinese government has denied the existence of political prisoners, insisting its constitution guarantees citizens freedom of speech, publication, assembly, association, procession, and demonstration.
During Wang’s visit, human rights groups took the opportunity to pressure the U.K. government. Free Tibet, which advocates for Tibetan independence, warned against prioritizing economic interests over human rights and national security.
“Any show of weakness or capitulation will be exploited. That means NO trade deals without human rights commitments and NO super embassy in east London,” the group said in a statement.
Human rights group Hong Kong Watch also issued a statement, urging the U.K. government to call on China to end the transnational repression of Hong Kong residents in Britain, release Hong Kong political prisoners, and prevent China from building a super embassy in London.
It warned that failure to act by the U.K. government would pose a direct threat to national security and the safety of the Hong Kong community in Britain.
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