Keir Starmer is facing a nude threat on his trip to China after Theresa May – the last British Prime Minister to visit the superpower – was advised to get dressed under her bed covers
Keir Starmer has been warned spies are likely to be watching his every move during his trip to China. The Prime Minister plans to improve relations despite growing warnings of the threat the superpower poses to Britain.
He will be the first British Prime Minister to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing since Theresa May’s trip exactly eight years ago. The Government are aware of the security risk posed by the trip and have issued “burner” phones and laptops to ministers and officials in the expectation they could be hacked.
During Mrs May’s 2018 visit, she was warned to get dressed in bed to avoid hidden cameras capturing compromising footage. Starmer’s team must also be aware of being caught with their trousers down as their security precautions remain so high.
Ahead of Sir Keir’s trip, a No 10 source said the Government was “bringing a hard-headed, grown-up approach to our relationship with China” that would chart a “steady, consistent course” with Beijing.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney secured a deal on tariff reduction during his own trip to China earlier this month, during which he suggested Beijing was becoming a more stable and reliable ally than Washington under Donald Trump.
Although the US president was initially positive about the deal, he later threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canada if it went ahead in the wake of Mr Carney’s call for “middle powers” to band together to counter pressure from the US.
In an interview with Bloomberg ahead of travelling to China, Sir Keir said: “I’m often invited to simply choose between countries. I don’t do that.
“We’ve got very close relations with the US, of course we want to and we will maintain that business, alongside security and defence.
“Equally, just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China when it’s the second biggest economy in the world and there are business opportunities wouldn’t be sensible.”
The last governor of Hong Kong said Sir Keir should say “exactly what he thinks” when he meets Chinese leaders in Beijing this week.
Lord Chris Patten said the Prime Minister should not “lean over backwards” to avoid offending China, adding: “The Chinese do business on exactly the same basis as everybody else.”
In an interview with the Press Association, Lord Patten said British policy towards China rested on “a complete falsehood” that “in order to do business with them, we must avoid saying anything they don’t like or doing anything that they don’t like”.
He said: “That is just complete bilge.”
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