UK Looks East As US Ties Fray, PM Keir Starmer Plans China Reset

Last Updated:January 21, 2026, 16:09 IST

The China outreach comes as Keir Starmer faces fresh tension with Britain’s closest ally, the United States.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans a visit to Beijing next week. (Image Credit: Reuters)

Britain and China are preparing to revive a flagship business dialogue first launched during a period both sides once dubbed a “golden era", as Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans a visit to Beijing next week amid increasingly strained relations between London and Washington.

The planned relaunch of the UK-China CEO Council is expected to bring together senior executives from major British and Chinese firms, marking the most significant attempt yet by Keir Starmer’s Labour government to reset economic ties with the world’s second-largest economy after years of political frost. British companies set to participate include AstraZeneca, BP, HSBC, InterContinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls‑Royce, Schroders and Standard Chartered, Reuters reported.

On the Chinese side, companies expected to be represented include Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Mobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, CRRC, China Pharmaceutical Group and BYD, as per the report.

The council was originally conceived in 2018 by then-Prime Minister Theresa May and China’s premier Li Keqiang, when bilateral ties were framed as a model partnership. That relationship deteriorated sharply after Britain banned Huawei from its 5G networks and moved to reduce Chinese involvement in sensitive infrastructure, including nuclear power projects.

Keir Starmer’s planned trip- the first by a British leader since 2018- is intended to reverse some of that damage. In a speech last year, he accused previous Conservative governments of allowing relations with Beijing to deteriorate while France and Germany maintained high-level engagement.

Negotiations over the revived council have been under way for months, but only accelerated after Britain this week approved plans for China to build what would be its largest embassy in Europe in London.

The China outreach comes as Keir Starmer faces fresh tension with Britain’s closest ally, the United States. US President Donald Trump this week sharply criticised a UK-Mauritius agreement over the Chagos Islands, home to a strategic UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, calling the move “an act of great stupidity" and warning that China and Russia would notice any perceived weakness.

News world UK Looks East As US Ties Fray, PM Keir Starmer Plans China Reset

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