UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in London on Thursday as the two nations pursued a thaw in ties even as Europe reeled from Donald Trump’s intervention on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The UK premier dropped in on a meeting between Wang and National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell to express his intention to “build a consistent and respectful relationship between the UK and China,” Starmer’s spokesman Tom Wells told reporters in the British capital.

Starmer “reiterated that the UK will always engage frankly on the areas where our views differ as part of the stable and regular engagement this government is committed to maintaining with China,” Wells said.

The prime minster’s office did not say if he raised previous warnings by the British government that Chinese companies have been arming Russia in its war against Ukraine. On Wednesday, Trump stunned European leaders by announcing that he had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin negotiations to end the war. He also appeared to reverse long-held US positions supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and its ambitions to join NATO.

At an earlier meeting with Wang on Thursday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy mentioned Ukraine and the imprisonment in Hong Kong of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

Speaking to to broadcasters, Starmer said “we must make sure Ukraine is at the heart” of negotiations for a deal with Russia.

Thursday’s events mark the latest in a series of meetings between senior UK and Chinese officials as Starmer’s Labour government, elected last July, seeks to boost economic and trade ties with Beijing that soured under the previous Conservative administration during the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war.

At the Group of Twenty summit in Brazil in November, Starmer became the first UK premier to meet China’s President Xi Jinping since Theresa May in 2018. Lammy and Wang met in October in China, while Reeves last month traveled to Beijing and Shanghai to become the most senior British minister to visit China in seven years.

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China ready to continue improving ties, deepen cooperation with UK

China is ready to work with the United Kingdom towards stable and improving bilateral ties, and to further cooperate in infrastructure, trade and investment, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, citing its minister.

Wang Yi made his first official visit to Britain on Thursday for the first time in a decade where he held talks with the prime minister, foreign minister and national security adviser.

In his meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Wang said China and the UK need to strengthen strategic communication, enhance mutual trust and demonstrate responsibility as major countries.

"The recent China-UK financial dialogue has achieved fruitful results, and exchanges at all levels have been resumed, demonstrating the great potential of practical cooperation between the two countries," Wang said, referring to an economic and financial dialogue between the two nations in Beijing last month.

The Labour government, in power in Britain since July, has made improving ties with China one of its main foreign policy goals, after a period when relations plunged to their lowest level in decades under successive Conservative governments.

Starmer told Wang he wanted "consistent and respectful" relations between their countries, when he dropped in on the planned meeting between Wang and his National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, Starmer's spokesman told reporters.

"He underlined his intention to build a consistent and respectful relationship between the UK and China ... including deepening cooperation on trade, investment and other areas of mutual benefit," the spokesman said.

"He reiterated that the UK will always engage frankly on areas where our views differ, as part of the stable and regular engagement this government is committed to maintaining with China."

They also discussed strengthening cooperation in dealing with climate change, artificial intelligence and clean energy, according to the Chinese readout.

Both nations agreed on next-step bilateral exchanges and cooperation, and will speed up preparations for institutional dialogues on the economy and trade, health and industrial cooperation, the Chinese ministry said.

British foreign minister David Lammy said he discussed with Wang international security, the war in Ukraine and Middle East.

But Lammy said he would continue to challenge China on the imprisonment of pro-democracy Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, human rights and the sanctioning of British parliamentarians.

Wang "comprehensively" explained China's position on the Ukraine war, and called for "no expansion of the battlefields, no escalation of hostilities, and no fanning flames", according to official news agency Xinhua.

It cited Wang as saying China welcomes all efforts committed to peace talks and supports building a "balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture".

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