Lammy to make official visit to China, Beijing’s foreign ministry confirms
The Foreign Secretary’s visit comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer set out his approach to dealing with Beijing.
David Lammy will visit China on Friday and Saturday, Beijing’s foreign affairs ministry has confirmed.
The Foreign Secretary’s first visit to the country since taking office comes after the Government insisted it will “challenge” China on issues including human rights violations and the tensions over Taiwan.
Mr Lammy is expected to meet Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing and is also set to hold talks with British businesses in Shanghai.
The meeting comes amid continued allegations of human rights abuses against the mainly-Muslim Uighur minority group – something Mr Lammy has previously described as “genocide” – and the detention of British citizen Jimmy Lai, who was arrested in 2020 in Hong Kong during a crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Downing Street said the Foreign Secretary’s visit was “necessary, pragmatic engagement with China in the UK’s interest”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has outlined the Government’s approach as “co-operate where we can”, “compete where we have different interests” and “challenge… where it is needed”.
China held large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands earlier this week, something Sir Keir said is “not conducive to peace and stability”.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday he said: “Stability in the Taiwan Strait is in all of our interests.”
Setting out his wider approach to China, Sir Keir said: “We will co-operate where we can as permanent members of the UN Security Council, on issues such as net zero and health and trade.
“Compete where we have different interests, and challenge… where it is needed to protect national security, human rights and our values. We will put that challenge in.”
