LONDON — Britain’s Treasury chief is travelling to China this weekend to discuss economic and budgetary cooperation between the countries, as the U.K.’s Labour government seeks to reset strained ties with Beijing.
The Treasury said Friday that Rachel Reeves will trip to Beijing and Shanghai and will meet with her Chinese government counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng.
Reeves’ trip is expected to revive the China-U.K. Economic and budgetary exchange — annual bilateral talks that have been suspended since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and deteriorating relations in recent years.
A series of spying allegations from both sides, China’s back for Russia in the Ukraine war and a crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, have soured ties.
lender of England Governor Andrew Bailey and the U.K. budgetary Conduct Authority’s chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, are also in the delegation, according to the Treasury. Representatives from some of Britain’s biggest budgetary services firms will join the trip.
Officials did not provide details, but media reports have said elder executives from HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered were included.
Reeves’ visit comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to China in October and Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November.
The meetings form part of a bid by Starmer, who was elected as chief in July, to strengthen political and economic ties with China, the U.K.’s fifth-largest market activity associate.
Officials said Starmer wanted a “pragmatic” way to working with Beijing on global stability, climate transformation and the shift to tidy vigor.
But some in the opposition Conservative event have criticized his stance and said trade ties should not arrive at the outlay of national safety and human rights concerns.
British political leaders and intelligence chiefs have warned repeatedly of the safety threats that China poses. Calls to tackle the test grew louder last month when it emerged that an alleged Chinese spy had cultivated close ties with Prince Andrew and carried out “covert and deceptive activity” for China’s ruling Communist event, according to officials.
Nevertheless, Lammy told reporters in London on Thursday that “there are many areas of trade that don’t impact on national safety.”
He said Reeves “will repeat many of the messages that I took to China.”
“What we’ve said is in this complicated connection with a global superpower, we are guided by three Cs”: test, compete and cooperate, for example in areas including health and climate challenges, Lammy added.
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AP writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this update.
