(Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
Starmer will call for Britain and other major economies to engage with China “pragmatically” on areas of mutual cooperation, including international stability, climate and growth, Downing Street added.
The prime minister will, however, be firm on “the need to have honest conversations on areas of disagreement.”
The meeting with Xi will be a first for Starmer, who was elected to power in July. It will also be the first in-person meeting between Xi and a British prime minister since 2018.
“China’s economy is obviously the second biggest in the world. It’s one of our biggest trading partners and therefore I will be having serious pragmatic discussions with the president when I meet him,” British media reported, quoting Starmer as speaking to reporters on the way to the summit on Sunday.
The duo spoke on the phone in August, when Starmer told Xi that the two countries must be able to talk frankly about their disagreements while pursuing closer economic ties. Xi responded that he hoped Britain would treat China “objectively and rationally.”
Starmer’s government has previously said it plans an audit of Britain’s relationship with China to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities Beijing poses.
(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru: Editing by Nicholas Yong)
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