The Mirror’s Political Editor Lizzy Buchan flew with Keir Starmer to Beijing for the first visit to China by a British Prime Minister since Theresa May in 2018
A familiar voice beamed in over the tannoy, startling my sleep-deprived brain as we flew over the Gobi desert.
“This is the Prime Minister,” he said, quipping: “Sit back, enjoy the rest of the flight, I’ll be bringing the plane in from here.”
Keir Starmer may not have been actually flying the plane, but he’ll need his wits to find a smooth landing on his high stakes trip to China. The PM was in good spirits as he came to talk to journalists crammed into the space by an emergency exit for the traditional plane huddle.
Bemused business and cultural leaders looked on as we jostled to hear his answers to our questions above the roar of the engine, including one senior hack who was crushed into the entrance of the plane toilet.
Mr Starmer batted away most of the questions on what he plans to raise in his meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping on Thursday. It’s the first visit to China by a British PM since Theresa May came in 2018, and marks a major moment in the Government’s attempts to thaw the icy relations that developed under the previous Conservative governments.
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Mr Starmer has met President Xi before in the margins of a summit in 2024, and he told me he had visited China back when he was a lawyer. But as PM, he must perform a delicate balancing act on this visit.
His careful answers in the huddle reminded me a bit of another high-stakes trip last year, when I travelled with him to Washington to meet Donald Trump in the Oval Office. That visit was even more nerve-wracking as Mr Starmer had not yet built the relationship he now has with the US President – and it was clear aides were worried anything could happen.
But this trip to China is hugely important. Mr Starmer is here to boost economic ties with the world’s second largest economy, at a time when Donald Trump keeps causing global chaos with threats of tariffs.
An entourage of business bosses is travelling with the PM, as well as cultural chiefs to bang the drum for Britain’s creative industries. But he made it clear he would raise issues which need to be raised – and there are plenty of thorny ones to choose from.
Human rights abuses, anti-democracy crackdowns, national security, Chinese espionage are all issues he could confront President Xi about if he chooses. There’s also Ukraine. China has maintained economic and diplomatic ties with Russia, and has been accused by Kyiv of providing intelligence and supplies such as drones to Vladimir Putin.
Tellingly, Mr Starmer revealed to us that he had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the day. What happens when the two men meet will be fascinating, and could have far-reach consequences.