British Prime Minister Keir Starmer works on board a UK government plane as he travels to a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday. No British prime minister has met Xi since then-British prime minister Theresa May visited Beijing in 2018 in the midst of a trade push during Brexit negotiations, although her successor, former British prime minister Boris Johnson, spoke to the Chinese president during the pandemic. Then-British prime minister Rishi Sunak attempted to renew relations at the G20 summit in 2022 where a bilateral was planned, but cancelled due to Ukraine developments. However, Conservative leaders have toyed with designating China a threat to British security — stronger language than the US had used. Reeves, who is understood to be taking a leading role in pursuing new economic opportunities with China, is to head to Beijing in January.
