‘Huge opportunities’ | Starmer lands in China for crucial TRADE TALKS with Xi Jinping скачать в хорошем качестве

‘Huge opportunities’ | Starmer lands in China for crucial TRADE TALKS with Xi Jinping

Keir Starmer has said he will raise “issues that need to be raised” as he faces pressure to challenge China ’s President over human rights in a high-stakes meeting in Beijing on Thursday. The Prime Minister will meet Xi Jinping on a four-day trip to China - the first by a British PM in eight years after UK-China relations deteriorated under previous Tory PMs. Mr Starmer is on a mission to boost ties with the world ’s second largest economy, but he faces a high-wire balancing act to drum up Chinese business while balancing security and human rights concerns. Speaking to journalists as he jetted into Beijing, Mr Starmer refused to be drawn on what topics he might raise in the meeting with the Chinese premier. Thorny topics include the case of Jimmy Lai, a pro-Democracy activist and British national, who faces spending the rest of his life in prison, and persecution of Uyghur Muslims forced into “re-education camps”. Asked about Mr Lai, the Prime Minister said: “On all the trips I've done, I've always raised issues that need to be raised, but I don't want to get ahead of myself on the specifics until I've had the opportunity. But part of the reason for engaging with China is so that issues where we disagree can be discussed, and the issues where we agree can be progressed, and so that's the approach.” He declined to say whether he would raise the treatment of Uyghurs ahead of the meeting. Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director of Human Rights Watch, urged the PM not to “abandon principle in pursuit of profit” during his visit. Continue reading... https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic... The Mirror Facebook:   / dailymirror   The Mirror IG:   / dailymirror   The Mirror TikTok:   / dailymirror   The Mirror Twitter:   / dailymirror   The Mirror Homepage: https://www.mirror.co.uk Sign up for our newsletters: https://www.mirror.co.uk/email #starmer #china #politics