Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of presenting as China’s “lapdog” after becoming the first British leader to visit the country in eight years.
Speaking to GB News, Senior Analyst at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China Chung Ching Kwong said Sir Keir is making “too many concessions” to China.
Following the approval of China’s new mega embassy in London, the Prime Minister flew to Beijing for crunch trade talks with the Chinese Government.
Sir Keir said on this trip, he is “resolute about being outward-looking, about taking opportunities, about building relationships, and always being absolutely focused on our national interest”.
Discussing the Prime Minister’s visit, Ms Kwong told GB News: “I’d say this visit got off on the wrong foot.
“We made a lot of concessions before going like the embassy, and the news that just broke that China has been tapping No10 cabinet ministers’ phones for years, this is not the right way to negotiate these kind of trade negotiations.”
She added: “Diplomatic conversations happen on a level playing ground.
“Instead of China saying if you don’t give us that, if you don’t give us the embassy, if you don’t do this, or if you do certain things like sanctioning people who are involved in these cyber attacks then we’re not letting you come, this is not how we should do it.”
Chung Ching Kwong has accused Keir Starmer of being China’s ‘lapdog’
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GB NEWS / REUTERS
Accusing Sir Keir of acting as China’s “lapdog” in his decisions to strengthen the China-UK relationship, Ms Kwong said: “We’re very afraid of being seen as the US lapdog, but right now we’re presenting as if we are China’s lapdog at this point.
“We’re making so many concessions, and therefore I don’t feel like it is the right move to engage like that.”
Highlighting previous UK-China meetings in recent years, Ms Kwong took issue with the Prime Minister claiming the UK Government has had its “head in the sand”.
She explained: “It’s not true that we have been in an ice age. James Cleverly went in 2023, David Lammy went in 2024, Peter Kyle went last year, the Prime Minister met Xi Jinping in 2024 as well, even though he’s not visited China.
Keir Starmer is currently in Bejing after approving China’s new super embassy
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POOL“So I don’t think the Government’s framing that it’s either uncritical engagement or we are sticking our heads into the sand is not the right framing.”
Arguing that the UK is “not as weak as we make out to be” on the world economic stage, Ms Kwong told GB News: “The US economy is in bad shape right now, but China also needs the UK market. If you look at the economic data of China, they are having massive overcapacity, their youth unemployment is skyrocketing.
“All of these things adding up together means that they’re looking for markets so that they can dump their goods, no matter if it’s to cheaply produce goods we can buy online or EVs or all those things. They actually need the UK market as much as we need more direct investment, be it from China or not.”
She added: “At the same time, if you look at the data, foreign direct investment going into Europe has actually plummeted, the number is at the lowest since 2010.
Ms Kwong told GB News that China ‘needs the UK market’
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GB NEWS
“And taking all these into account, I actually don’t think the UK is actually as weak as we want to believe that we are. And with the work with other democratic countries in the world, we can actually build a democratic dividend that benefits everybody that play by the rules instead of players like China and Russia.”
A delegation of almost 60 representatives of British businesses and cultural institutions is accompanying the Prime Minister as he continues his efforts to build bridges with Beijing.
However, concerns over the risk China poses to national security and Xi Jinping’s record on human rights mean Sir Keir’s visit is politically sensitive.
Speaking to reporters on the flight to Beijing, the Prime Minister said: “The evidence there are opportunities is the fact that we’ve got so many CEOs with us on this flight, that we’ve got 60 coming out to explore those opportunities.”