Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to inviting Xi Jinping to visit the UK for the first time in a decade.
The Prime Minister, who is in China as part of a push to boost Anglo-Chinese relations, will likely infuriate China-sceptics in Westminster after refusing to rule out a visit.
Ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and a handful of Conservative MPs have been sanctioned by Beijing due to criticisms over its human rights policy.
Despite concerns in the House of Commons, Sir Keir and President Xi have discussed easing tariff charges on scotch whisky exports and visas for businesspeople visiting China.
Any visit to the UK by President Xi would be the first made by the Chinese President since 2015.
No10 described Thursday’s meeting with President Xi as “warm and constructive”, with the Prime Minister looking set to build on the beginnings of a thawing in the diplomatic relationship between the UK and China.
Sir Keir’s visit to China is the first made by a UK Prime Minister since Theresa May in 2018.
Asked if the Prime Minister wanted President Xi to visit the UK, a No10 spokesman said: “I think the PM has been clear that a reset relationship with China, that it’s no longer in an ice age, is beneficial to British people and British business.
Sir Keir and President Xi have discussed easing tariff charges on scotch whisky exports and visas for businesspeople visiting China
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PA
“I’m not going to get ahead of future engagements, we’ll set those out in the normal way.”
President Xi’s last visit to the UK in 2015 included a 41-gun salute in London’s Green Park.
Then-Prime Minister David Cameron was also snapped alongside his Chinese counterpart visiting a pub near Chequers.
The Plough at Cadsden in Buckinghamshire served up two pints of IPA and some fish and chips.
Prime Minister David Cameron drinks a pint with Chinese President Xi Jinping at The Plough Inn at Cadsden in Princes Risborough
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PA
However, since Mr Cameron looked to forge a “golden age” between the UK and China, five Tory MPs have been sanctioned by Beijing.
The sanctions were imposed in retaliation for measures taken by the UK over human rights abuses against the Uyghur people.
Shadow Minister Neil O’Brien said it would be strange to offer President Xi a visit when the Chinese Ambassador was “banned from Parliament because of multiple rounds of spying on MPs”.
He added: “I obviously think the government’s strategy of sucking up to them while they sanction us is a mistake.”
The PM’s spokesman said a ‘constructive and more open relationship with China is in the UK’s national interest’ | PA
Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer seems incapable of acting in Britain’s national interest.
“We should not roll out the red carpet for a state that conducts daily espionage in our country, flouts international trading rules and aids Putin in his senseless war on Ukraine.
“We need a dialogue with China, we do not need to kowtow to them.”
Tim Loughton, a former Tory minister who was sanctioned by China, warned offering President Xi a visit would be a “definite red line and he [Xi] would in any case have to be banned from the parliamentary estate, as is the ambassador whilst we remain sanctioned”.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith launched a scathing attack on ‘pathetic’ Keir Starmer after approving the new Chinese ‘mega-embassy’ | GB NEWS
He added: “There would also be a row over allowing demonstrations when last time Tibetans were disgracefully kept out of sight and arrested by heavy-handed police.”
Sir Keir’s visit to China has seen the UK agree to a series of agreements that bring the two nations closer together.
Britain also confirmed it had signed an agreement for China to waive visa rules for British citizens visiting for less than 30 days for business or tourism.
The two leaders also promised to co-operate on conformity assessments, exports, sports, tackling organised crime, vocational training and food safety.