Sir Keir Starmer told President Xi that Britain and China must be able to talk frankly about their disagreements in his first official phone call with that country’s leader.
The pair discussed the benefits of a better trading relationship, with Starmer emphasising that “trade, the economy and education” were “potential areas of co-operation”.
European leaders including Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, and Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, have beaten a path to Beijing in recent months to promote business. At the same time, President Macron of France hosted Xi at the Élysée Palace earlier this year.
In a sign of Labour’s desire for a closer trading relationship with the world’s second largest economy, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is expected to visit
