Sir Keir Starmer will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Brazil, Downing Street has confirmed.
He will be the first British prime minister to meet the Chinese leader in more than half a decade when they hold talks in Rio de Janeiro on Monday and has pledged to have “serious, pragmatic discussions” when they speak.
The Xi meeting will be one in a series of discussions the Prime Minister is expected to have with world leaders at the two-day summit, with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East likely to be high on the agenda.
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Reports that US President Joe Biden has given the green light for Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia emerged on Sunday evening ahead of the summit getting underway.
Speaking to reporters en route to the summit on Sunday, Sir Keir said: “I am planning to have a bilateral with President Xi at the G20. I think that’s important.
“We are both global players, global powers, both permanent members of the Security Council and of the G20.
“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.”
Trade could be one of the issues that come up for discussion amid concern over US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on imports.
Sir Keir will be the first UK prime minister to meet the Chinese premier since Theresa May in 2018.
Asked if he wanted a better relationship with Beijing than previous governments, Sir Keir added: “Given the size of the economy it is very important that we have a pragmatic and serious relationship and that’s what I intend to pursue.”