Kemi Badenoch says Keir Starmer has been 'played' by China as PM says he was RIGHT to suck up to Beijing's communist regime
Keir Starmer faced claims that he has been 'played' by China after he returned from his underwhelming Beijing trip saying he was right to suck up to the communist regime.
Kemi Badenoch tore into the Prime Minister after he told the Commons he was right to woo the autocratic giants and the Tories should have done it when they were in power.
Addressing MPs about his trip to see Xi Jinping he said the previous government had been wrong to go eight years without a visit, despite a catalogue of Chinese acts against Britain, including sanctions and spying.
Sir Keir Starmer said the lifting of Chinese sanctions on British MPs is an 'early indication' of the progress that can be made through engagement.
But he drew laughter from the opposition benches when he said he had had won an agreement for 'closer dialogue on cyber issues', given Beijing is one of the main hostile state actors in this area.
In a statement to the Commons, the Prime Minister said he is 'clear-eyed about the threats coming from China', but argued 'it will be impossible to safeguard our national interests without engaging with this geopolitical reality', as he pointed to China as the world's second biggest economy.
'We can do two things at once. We can protect ourselves whilst also finding ways to co-operate. And it was in that spirit that we made this visit,' he added.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Sir Keir Starmer of adopting a 'supine and short-termist approach', adding the Prime Minister came back to the UK with 'next to nothing' apart from a Labubu doll.
Sir Keir Starmer said the lifting of Chinese sanctions on British MPs is an 'early indication' of the progress that can be made through engagement.
Addressing MPs about his trip to see Xi Jinping he said the previous government had been wrong to go eight years without a visit, despite a catalogue of Chinese acts against Britain, including sanctions and spying.
Kemi Badenoch tore into the Prime Minister after he told the Commons the Conservatives should have done more to woo the autocratic giants when they were in power.
She told the Commons: 'Of course Britain should engage with China – even though the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) wasn't allowed to go, even though they are an authoritarian state who seek to undermine our interests.
'Even though they spy on us, sometimes within the walls of this building, even though they fund regimes around the world hostile to our country.
'They are a fact of life, a global power and an economic reality.
'So let me be clear, it is not the Prime Minister engaging with China that we take issue with. What we are criticising is his supine and short-termist approach.'
Sir Keir went on to say: 'I also raised the fact that members of this House have been sanctioned by the Chinese authorities. In response, the Chinese have now made it clear that all such restrictions on parliamentarians no longer apply.
'And I want to be clear, this was not the result of a trade. Yes, members will want to see more, I understand that, but that is precisely the point: ignoring China for eight years achieved nothing.
'This step is an early indication, not the sum total, of the kind of progress that this sort of engagement can achieve, through leader to leader, discussion on sensitive issues, to stand up for British interests.'
