Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed ways to develop bilateral relations with newly appointed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during their first phone call on the 23rd.
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that President Xi made the call in the afternoon at Prime Minister Starmer's request. Congratulating Starmer on his inauguration, Xi said, "The current international situation is entangled in turmoil," adding, "China and the UK are both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major global economies. We must view bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective and strengthen dialogue and cooperation as partners."
President Xi also explained the results of the 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held last month. At that time, Xi stated, "China has formulated strategic plans for the comprehensive deepening of reforms and the promotion of Chinese-style modernization," emphasizing that "by accelerating 'new quality productive forces' and 'new industrialization,' China will provide new opportunities to countries around the world, including the UK."
He further expressed hope that "China and the UK will promote equal dialogue based on mutual respect, enhance mutual trust, strengthen the linkage of development strategies, expand cooperation in fields such as finance, green economy, and artificial intelligence (AI), and deepen cultural exchanges," adding, "We will make mutual benefit and common prosperity the main principle of bilateral relations."
In response, Prime Minister Starmer congratulated the Chinese delegation on their outstanding performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, stating that "closely developing cooperative relations between the two countries aligns with the long-term interests of both nations." Xinhua reported that Starmer also said strengthening cooperation in economic trade, finance, education, clean energy, biomedicine, and health sectors would promote national development and help jointly address global challenges such as climate change.
During former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's administration in 2015, the UK government invited President Xi, ushering in a "golden era" in bilateral relations, but the situation has changed rapidly in recent years. In the UK, tensions with China escalated following the arrest of a parliamentary researcher last September on suspicion of acting as a Chinese spy, and voices calling for China to be designated a security threat country grew louder domestically. Earlier this year, China also retaliated by announcing the detection and arrest of individuals involved in leaking Chinese state secrets to the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
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