UK-China ‘ice age’ thaws: Why the West needs Beijing

Eight years after a British prime minister and foreign secretary made back-to-back visits to China, the Keir Starmer government is once again trying to reset relations with Beijing after a long period of what Starmer had in January described as an “ice age” in relations.

Prime Minister Starmer went to Beijing in January, and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is currently visiting on a three-day trip, as the United Kingdom and China try to revive economic and diplomatic ties despite lingering differences over security, human rights and the Russian war on Ukraine. Former PM Theresa May and her Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt made similar visits to China soon after each other in 2018.

The UK isn’t alone. Cooper’s visit to Beijing this week is the latest in a string of visits by global leaders and officials seemingly eager to engage with the second-largest economy in the world at a time of heightened global instability.

During her trip so far, Cooper has called for the two nations to work together to confront a host of global challenges, including conflicts in Iran and Ukraine and the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“It is in our shared interest to have a rules-based international order and to find ways to reduce rising geoeconomic tensions,” the foreign secretary said on Tuesday as she met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People at the start of her visit.

While acknowledging “areas of disagreement” between London and Beijing, Cooper insisted that approaching discussions with “candour and respect” would help to increase mutual understanding.

“Those frank and constructive discussions can help us make meaningful progress for the benefit of our two countries and the wider world,” she said.

The rhetoric about a “rules-based order” comes at a time when, under President Donald Trump, the United States – the country that led the creation of the post-World War II global architecture – increasingly faces accusations of ripping apart the international laws that were its foundation. China has in recent years positioned itself as a grown-up, responsible and stable global power, in contrast to the US.