Starmer’s success in China is fragile – now he must navigate it carefully

SecondBritain seeks to improve relations with China Donald Trump ‘very dangerous’. The president chose not to elaborate during a brief speech at the premiere of his wife’s film of the same name, Melaniawhich is understandable, his focus.

Sir Keir Starmer may be relieved that Trump has not responded more violently (instead, he has retained his disdain for Canada’s recent rapprochement with China), but the Prime Minister may also reflect sadly on himself and say, “I hope so.” That’s because even someone as paranoid as President Trump can’t remotely describe the actual results of this high-profile visit. anything approaching “danger”.

Small concessions on tariffs on Scotch whiskey; visa-free travel for British tourists; lifting of sanctions on British MPs critical of President Xi. There’s no danger to anyone. The biggest announcement regarding inward investment was AstraZeneca’s £10.6 billion commitment, but to build facilities in China rather than the UK.

Even coupled with vague promises about future technology and investment cooperation, these could hardly be described as a “Great Leap Forward”, to borrow a slogan, let alone a threat to US interests in the UK. Sir Keir is clearly right for now when he stresses that the UK does not have to choose between the US and China in terms of strategic partnership.

Indeed, managing to establish strong and stable long-term relations with these two superpowers would be quite an achievement. Britain’s post-Brexit diplomatic weaknesses are all too apparent at moments like this.

Even so, there is no need to be rude to the Prime Minister’s efforts. He is the first British leader to set foot in China in eight years. Relations between the two countries have soured significantly after Theresa May traveled there in vain to seek a post-Brexit trade deal. espionage, Beijing’s alliance with Moscow, and China’s continued human rights abuses, particularly in Hong Kong and Major factors of oppression against the Uyghur Muslim people.

Britain also bears a shameful legacy from the colonial era, and there is an undeniable huge gap in military and economic power compared to most other Western powers. By some measures, China is already the world’s largest economy and even proved it can defy U.S. wishes during last year’s trade war. The background to the visit was not optimistic.

So from that perspective, as the Prime Minister said, this is just the beginning of a process that could bring huge benefits to the UK. If President Trump thinks the future is dangerous, then he should ask himself how a mid-sized economy like the UK, which is unusually open and dependent on overseas trade, is supposed to make a living? Access to the U.S. market restricted.

British businesses must contend with the periodic threat of more punitive tariffs being imposed without warning and at the whim of the president. This is a lesson whether it’s the Trump administration’s trade behavior after the so-called “Liberation Day” last April or during the Greenland crisis.

Therefore, what Sir Keir calls a “more complex” Sino-British relationship is actually inevitable. With little realistic prospect of rejoining the EU in the short term, and given that the United States has chosen to distance itself from its European allies (now criticized for its “destruction of civilization”), the UK has no choice but to pursue new relationships with other major economies. That means India and China, which already have a trade deal.

It doesn’t hurt that the Prime Minister is leading a delegation of British business and cultural figures to see what can finally be done to ease the UK’s £40bn-a-year trade deficit with China and win much-needed investment in future industries. With closer economic and cultural ties, there could be a greater impact on Jimmy Lai and the persecution of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, and even on China’s support for the Russian war machine.

This takes time. After all, Chinese statesman Zhou Enlai said, “It’s too early to tell” when asked about the impact of the French Revolution during President Nixon’s landmark visit in 1972.

As we look to the future, we are likely to approve of Sir Keir’s seemingly lackluster diplomatic moves. For the UK, economic necessity means having to contend with various geopolitical competitions – including with the United States. Sir Keir wisely avoids talk of a “golden age”. Success requires a more sophisticated approach than that.