British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to visit China in attempt to repair frosty relations

LONDON (AP) — British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is making his first trip to China during his term this week to try to reset the system. UK ties with Beijing and seeking “pragmatic engagement” despite human rights and other concerns.

Relations between Britain and China have become increasingly frosty in recent years following a series of espionage and allegations of cyberespionage, according to Beijing crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kongformer British colony, and China’s support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.

Lammy is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai during a two-day trip that begins Friday, British officials said Thursday.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer UK spokesman Dave Pares said Britain wanted to engage with China but would challenge Beijing on issues such as the imprisonment of Jimmy Laithe Hong Kong activist and publisher of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper, in detention since 2020.

Pares said Lai’s release was a “priority” for the British government. Lai, 76, has British nationality and his legal team is pressuring British authorities to do more to help him.

“We call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their politically motivated prosecution and immediately release Jimmy Lai,” Pares said. He added that Lammy raised the issue in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders in Laos in July, “and will continue to raise the issue raise “.

“What the UK wants to have with China is pragmatic engagement. It is in the interests of the United Kingdom and in the interests of the whole world,” he said.

Starmer, who led his Labor Party to a landslide victory in July’s election, has made no major statements about how he intends to manage Britain’s relationship with China.

His predecessor, Rishi Sunak, had resisted strong pressure from some in his Conservative Party to take a tougher stance on China due to security concerns and the country’s human rights record . Instead, Sunak favored a non-confrontational approach, emphasizing the need to engage with China even as it becomes a growing “systemic challenge” to British values ​​and interests.

The last British Foreign Secretary to visit China was James cleverly in 2023, when he stressed 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 large-scale state-backed operation which targeted large numbers of civil servants, journalists, businesses, pro-democracy campaigners and the UK’s election watchdog. Officials said the campaign’s goals 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 of alleged spying for China and helping Hong Kong authorities gather intelligence in the United Kingdom Suspects included a former researcher working at the British Parliament and the director of Hong Kong’s trade office in London.

Beijing, in turn, accused the British intelligence agency MI6 of recruiting a Chinese couple as spies.

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it was “ready to work with the British side” to strengthen cooperation and promote stable relations.

“Both China and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major economies in the world,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.

“The stable and long-term development of relations between the two countries is in the common interests of both sides and promotes the unity of the international community to address global challenges and promote world peace and development,” he said. she declared.