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British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is making his first trip to China in office this week in an attempt to reset the U.K.'s ties with Beijing and seek “pragmatic engagement” despite human rights and other concerns.
Relations between Britain and China have turned increasingly frosty in recent years over a series of spying and cyberespionage allegations, Beijing's crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and China's support for Russia in the Ukraine war.
Lammy is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai during a two-day trip that starts Friday, U.K. officials said Thursday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's spokesperson, Dave Pares, said Britain wants to engage China but would challenge Beijing over issues including the jailing of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong activist and publisher of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper who has been in custody since 2020.
Pares said securing Lai's release was a “priority” for Britain's government. Lai, 76, has British citizenship and his legal team has been pressing British authorities to do more to help him.
“We are calling on the Hong Kong authorities to end their politically motivated prosecution and immediately release Jimmy Lai,” Pares said. He added that Lammy had raised the case during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders in Laos in July, “and will continue to raise it.”
“What the U.K. wants to have with China is pragmatic engagement. That is in the U.K.’s interest and in the world’s interest,” he said.
Starmer, who led his Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July, has not made any major statements on how he aims to manage the U.K.-China relationship.
His predecessor, Rishi Sunak, had resisted heavy pressure from some members of his Conservative party to take a tougher stance on China over security concerns and the country’s human rights record. Instead, Sunak favored a non-confrontational approach, stressing the need to engage with China despite it becoming an increasing “systemic challenge” to British values and interests.
The last British foreign secretary to visit China was James Cleverly in 2023, when he underlined the importance of maintaining regular dialogue with Beijing despite differences.
In March, British and American authorities said hackers linked to the Chinese government were behind a sweeping, state-backed operation that targeted scores of officials, journalists, corporations, pro-democracy activists and the U.K.’s election watchdog. Officials said the campaign's aims included harassing critics of the Chinese government and spying on high-level political figures.
Earlier this year, four men in Britain were charged in two separate cases with allegedly spying for China and helping Hong Kong authorities gather intelligence in the U.K. The suspects included a former researcher working in the U.K. Parliament, and the office manager of the Hong Kong trade office in London.
Beijing, in turn, has accused Britain's MI6 intelligence agency of recruiting a Chinese couple as spies.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it is “ready to work with the British side” to boost cooperation and promote stable relations.
“China and the U.K. are both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major economies in the world,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
“The long-term and stable development of the relationship between the two countries is in the common interest of both sides and is conducive to the international community’s unity in addressing global challenges and promoting peace and development around the world," she said.
