Xi backs Labour’s plan for growth

Xi Jinping handed a diplomatic victory to Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves as he repeated Labour’s economic mantra during a meeting at the G20 summit in Brazil. 
The Chinese president and Sir Keir held talks on the sidelines of the summit in Rio de Janeiro this morning, the first such meeting between China and the UK since 2018. 
President Xi appeared to endorse Labour’s economic plan as he said the UK Government was “working to fix the foundations of the economy”. 
Both Sir Keir and Ms Reeves have repeatedly vowed to “fix the foundations” of the economy and it is a core part of their domestic message. 
According to a translation in the room at the top of his meeting with Sir Keir, the Chinese president said: “The world has entered a new period marked by turbulence and transformation. As permanent members of the UN security council and major global economies China and UK share the dual responsibility of advancing our respective national development and addressing global challenges.
“The new UK government is working to fix the foundations of the economy and rebuild Britain and has set the vision of Britain reconnected.”
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Sir Keir Starmer told Chinese president Xi Jinping that he “wanted to engage honestly and frankly” on issues where the countries disagree.
Issuing a readout after the meeting in Rio de Janeiro earlier today, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister said that he also wanted to engage honestly and frankly on those areas where we have different perspectives, including on Hong Kong, human rights and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“He reiterated that his approach would always be rooted in the national interests of the UK, but that we would be a predictable and pragmatic partner.”
The discussions between the two leaders also touched on trade and investment, health, education and “other areas of mutual interest”, the readout said.
The spokesperson added: “On climate in particular, both said that this should be high on the agenda and there was more work to be done to accelerate global progress towards net zero.”
Xi Jinping told Sir Keir Starmer that they can “break new ground in the China-UK relationship” when they met in Rio de Janeiro earlier today.
According to a translation in the room at the top of his meeting with Sir Keir, the Chinese president said his nation and the UK “share the dual responsibility” of “addressing global challenges”.
He said:
“The world has entered a new period marked by turbulence and transformation. As permanent members of the UN security council and major global economies China and UK share the dual responsibility of advancing our respective national development and addressing global challenges.
“The new UK government is working to fix the foundations of the economy and rebuild Britain and has set the vision of Britain reconnected.
“And China is further deepening reform across the board to advance Chinese modernisation. We will share development opportunities with the rest of the world and promote international solidarity and cooperation
“China and the UK have broad space for cooperation across various domains, including trade, investment, clean energy, financial services, healthcare and improving our peoples’ wellbeing.
“We should take fostering greater development better serving our peoples and contributing more to the world as our goal. Live up to our strategic partnership and commit to mutual respect, openness, cooperation, exchanges and mutual learning for shared benefit […]
“In doing so we will break new ground in the China-UK relationship amid a changing world and better underscore our relationship’s relevance for the times and its significance for the world.”
Sir Keir Starmer will continue to have “serious and pragmatic discussions” with China, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s deputy official spokeswoman said the Government’s position remained “that it is important to engage seriously and pragmatically, and that involves challenging where necessary”.
The spokeswoman told reporters at lunchtime: “He’s very clear that we are both global players and global powers and both members of the UNSC [UN Security Council] and that China’s the second biggest economy in the world and one of the UK’s biggest trading partners.
“And it is important to have serious and pragmatic discussions with China. Those will always be based on protecting and furthering the UK’s best interests and we will always challenge and compete when necessary.
“The Prime Minister believes it is important to engage with China given the size of its economy and its position on the world stage. His policy is pursuing serious and diplomatic relationships and that is what the PM believes is necessary.”
The spokeswoman added that the UK would continue to raise human rights concerns with Beijing.
Sir Keir Starmer has just arrived at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro after earlier meeting Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the event. 
The Prime Minister was greeted as he got out of a black car before walking up a very long red carpet, flanked by a military guard of honour. 
After posing for photographs with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, Sir Keir headed into the summit venue.
Journalists were ushered out of the room at the start of the bilateral meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and Xi Jinping around the time the Prime Minister raised the case of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy activist and British national imprisoned in Hong Kong.
The Prime Minister said: “I’m very pleased that my Foreign Secretary and foreign minister Wang met recently to discuss respective concerns including on human rights and parliamentary sanctions, Taiwan, the South China Sea and our shared interest in Hong Kong. We are concerned by reports of Jimmy Lai’s deterioration.”
He had earlier said that he is “keen that my Chancellor should meet with vice premier He [Lifeng] for the upcoming economic financial dialogue early next year to explore more investment projects and a more level playing field to help our businesses.”
Sir Keir Starmer said a “strong UK-China relationship is important for both of our countries” and for the “broader international community” as he met Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Speaking at the start of their meeting at the Sheraton Grand hotel, the Prime Minister said: “We want our relations to be consistent, durable, respectful, as we have agreed, avoid surprises where possible.”
He added: “The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law.”
The Prime Minister also proposed a full bilateral meeting in Beijing or London.
Sir Keir Starmer said a “strong UK China relationship is important for both of our countries” as he met Chinese president Xi Jinping on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
 
G20 leaders have now started to arrive for the first day of the two-day summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, was the first to arrive. 
Sir Keir Starmer should appear on the red carpet shortly. 
Sir Keir Starmer will meet Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, later today. 
But how do voters in the UK feel about China? 
A YouGov poll conducted at the end of August this year found almost two thirds viewed China as either unfriendly or hostile. 
Asked which statement best reflected their view of China, some 30 per cent said “generally a hostile threat” and 33 per cent said “generally unfriendly”. 
Just 14 per cent said China was “generally a friendly rival” and just 3 per cent said “generally a friend and ally”. Some 19 per cent were unsure. 
With Keir Starmer hoping to reset UK-China relations at the G20 summit this week, 63% of Britons currently see China as either an unfriendly nation or a threatening one% saying China is generally…A friend and ally: 3%A friendly rival: 14%Unfriendly: 33%A hostile threat:… pic.twitter.com/aus0gh4fdn
The latest G20 summit is being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The two-day event gets underway this morning and Rio is three hours behind the UK so the leaders of the 20 most powerful nations should be getting to work shortly. 
Sir Keir Starmer will have an “open and frank conversation” with Xi Jinping today, Bridget Phillipson said. 
The Education Secretary was asked how the meeting at the G20 summit in Brazil could be judged a success or failure. 
She told LBC: “Well, it does give us the opportunity to raise concerns that we have, but it also allows us to have an open and frank conversation about those kinds of challenges. 
“I think, you know, it is important that governments are able to engage with countries where there will often be profound disagreement, making that profound disagreement clear, but adopting a pragmatic approach, a pragmatic and clear-eyed approach to our engagement with countries like China.”
Critics of Beijing will be hoping Sir Keir Starmer raises the following issues during his talks with Xi Jinping later today: 
James Cartlidge backed Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to meet Xi Jinping for talks at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. 
Asked if he believed it was legitimate for the Prime Minister to sit down with the Chinese president, the shadow defence secretary told Sky News: “I accept that, yes, absolutely. We can’t ignore China, they are a major nation, they are a huge economic power. 
“But I think the key phrase prime minister Sunak used to use was eyes wide open, being very aware of the potential threat, being very clear to them about our concerns on human rights and so on and of course we expect Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be making those points when he has that meeting to express our concern about those issues, particularly, for example, in Hong Kong.”  
Sir Keir Starmer must recognise the “huge threat” China potentially poses to the UK, the shadow defence secretary said this morning. 
James Cartlidge said there needed to be a “constructive” dialogue between Britain and Beijing but Sir Keir needed to go in with his “eyes wide open” when he meets Xi Jinping in Brazil later today. 
The senior Tory told Sky News: “I think it is certainly important that we have constructive dialogue with them. I believe the Prime Minister is meeting [Xi Jinping] at the G20. 
“The caveat really is this [needs to be] eyes wide open, recognise the huge threat they potentially pose. 
“When I was at the Ministry of Defence we were very clear about trying to reduce, for example, the amount of Chinese content we had in our supply chains and I think that is the sort of thing the Government should be doing and I think that it is one thing for the Prime Minister to promise that this meeting is about UK growth and security but that is quite a challenge to pull both of those off and he must be clear to the Chinese about the human rights abuses we have seen in Hong Kong and elsewhere.”
Labour has come under pressure over its approach to China after its actions in government failed to match up to its rhetoric while in opposition, writes Nick Gutteridge in Rio de Janeiro. 
David Lammy had previously said that he would push for international courts to declare China guilty of genocide over its treatment of the Uyghurs.
But the Foreign Secretary, who visited Beijing in October for talks with his counterpart, has quietly dropped that pledge since the election.
The autocratic regime in Beijing has overseen the detention of up to two million Uyghur Muslims in camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has criticised Sir Keir Starmer for meeting Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Brazil. 
The Tory former cabinet minister, who has been sanctioned by China over his criticism of Beijing, accused Sir Keir of “kowtowing” to “the world’s greatest threat to the democratic global order”.
The former leader of the Conservative Party told the Daily Mail: “This is very sad. Those suffering genocide and slave labour under the brutal hands of Xi will feel betrayed.
“Starmer will be seen as weak by Xi who will see him as coming to him in a ‘kowtow’ begging for trade.”
A Cabinet minister would not be drawn when asked if the UK could change its position on China if the incoming Trump administration in the US asked it to do so.
Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, was asked if the Government would listen if the president-elect asked Britain to be tougher in its dealings with Beijing.
She replied: “You’ll appreciate I am not going to comment on hypotheticals as to what might or might not happen into the future.
“We will always have our clear starting position and, for example, through our engagement with China the Foreign Secretary [David Lammy] has made clear our concerns around human rights abuses for example.
“But we do have to have a process of engaging with other nations, China included, and going into the G20 that is what the Prime Minister has set out.”
Bridget Phillipson said it was “right” for Sir Keir Starmer to hold face-to-face talks with Xi Jinping because China is a “major player” on the world stage. 
The Education Secretary said the UK will engage with Beijing but she expected there to be “areas of profound disagreement”. 
Sir Keir will meet president Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro later today. 
She told Sky News: “China is a major player both in terms of the economy but also in the security council so it is right that we have that engagement but that we do so on a pragmatic basis where we go into it with our eyes wide open. 
“That does mean there will be challenge, constructive challenge, and there will be areas of profound disagreement.” 
Sir Keir Starmer said he wants a “serious relationship” with China ahead of his first face-to-face talks with Xi Jinping later today.
The Prime Minister and the Chinese premier will hold talks in Brazil amid growing concern over Beijing’s actions on the international stage.
They will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit, in Rio de Janeiro, at which Britain is hoping to secure new commitments on global free trade.
It will be the first meeting between a British prime minister and China’s leader since Theresa May travelled to Beijing in 2018.
You can read the full story here. 
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