British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday defended his visit to China as a means of rebuilding mutual trust and boosting trade relations with Beijing, while US President Donald Trump warned of a "very dangerous" rapprochement.Speaking to Chinese and British business circles at the Bank of China, Starmer praised the "very friendly and very good" talks he held with Chinese President Xi Jinping the day before yesterday.He confirmed that these talks allowed for "real progress", adding: "This is how we build mutual trust and extremely important respect."This rapprochement between London and Beijing has drawn Trump's ire amid rising competition between the world's two largest economies.The US president told reporters upon his arrival to attend the premiere of a documentary about his wife Melania: "It's very dangerous for them to do that."In reality, Starmer, who visited Shanghai yesterday before heading to Japan, is not leaving China with a package of major contracts and loud announcements, but has secured some initiatives from Beijing, such as reducing tariffs on some exports and an agreement to cooperate on combating illegal migration, the extent of which remains to be verified.Beijing has also granted the UK visa-free entry for Britons visiting China for less than 30 days, which London saw as a way to facilitate British businesspeople's access to economic opportunities in the Chinese market.A total of about 10 cooperation agreements were signed, the terms of which are still unclear, and the two governments agreed to "conduct a feasibility study to explore the possibility of initiating negotiations on a bilateral agreement in the services sector."British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca also announced its intention to invest $15 billion in China by 2030.But Starmer's overarching goal in this visit was to find drivers to support the exhausted British economy, which has been suffering from the aftermath of Brexit and escalating global trade disputes.After years of strained relations under his Conservative predecessors and China's tightening policy in Hong Kong and mutual accusations of espionage between the two countries, Starmer, who came to power in 2024, has been seeking to move the relationship with Beijing forward, London's third-largest trading partner.It was this that prompted the prime minister to make this visit, according to his office, which also showed openness to a possible future visit by the Chinese president to the UK.A Starmer spokesperson did not rule out such a visit when asked by journalists, confirming that "restarting relations with China is beneficial for the British people and British companies."However, such a possibility arouses the ire of the British Conservative opposition, which accuses the Labour leader of being lenient towards China.Notably, Starmer is the first British prime minister to visit China since 2018 and the third major Western official to be received by Beijing recently, after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron.
