UK hopes to reset ties after years of tension over security and human rights concerns
London wants a pragmatic relationship with China but will remain “clear-eyed” about areas of disagreement, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in Beijing on a visit criticized by some in the governing Conservative Party.
Cleverly met with Vice President Han Zheng and is set to meet with his counterpart Chinese counterpart Wang Yi later in the day.
Cleverly is the first senior British minister in five years to visit China, a trip that he hopes will reset ties between the two countries after years of tension over security, investment and human rights concerns.
The foreign secretary has argued it would be a mistake to isolate the world’s second-largest economy or tackle climate change without its input, but some Conservative MPs say the trip looks like an expression of British weakness.