Britain, China to revive ‘golden era’ business dialogue during PM Starmer’s visit

BEIJING – Britain and China will aim to revive a “golden era” business dialogue when Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Beijing next week, three sources familiar with the initiative said, with top executives from both sides invited to participate.

AstraZeneca, BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls-Royce, Schroders and Standard Chartered Bank are among the British companies set to join a revamped “UK-China CEO Council”, said the sources, who are both Chinese and British.

The council was originally conceived in 2018 by then British Prime Minister Theresa May and then Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, during a period of ties both sides dubbed “a golden era”.

The Chinese delegation is expected to include Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Mobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, China National Pharmaceutical Group and BYD, among other companies, the sources – a mix of officials and businesspeople – added.

London embassy green light clears way for visit

Negotiations have been under way for a while. But with Mr Starmer’s visit largely contingent on approval for China to

build its largest embassy in Europe in London

– a green light it received on Jan 20 – talks have only just begun in earnest, they said.

Details such as the group’s official English name still need to be settled, one source said, with the British government reluctant to include “CEO” in the title, while the Chinese side plans to retain the Chinese translation used in 2018.

Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-ranking official, should be Beijing’s representative if the talks go ahead, the source added. The British side could announce the visit and Mr Starmer’s schedule as soon as Jan 23, that same person said.

All of the sources cautioned, however, that US President Donald Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland could derail Mr Starmer’s trip, adding that with the embassy decision still so recent, other elements of the visit are still being finalised.

None of the sources could confirm which chief executives would attend, with one corporate source noting their CEO had declined, citing uncertainty over whether the visit would proceed.

Reuters contacted all the companies expected to attend for comment, but none immediately responded.

Back to the future

A visit by Mr Starmer would be the first by a British leader since 2018, with his administration aiming to reset ties with the world’s second-largest economy after successive Conservative governments shifted the UK from being one of Beijing’s strongest backers in Europe to one of its fiercest critics.

In a speech in late 2025, the Labour Party leader accused previous Conservative governments of a “dereliction of duty” by allowing ties with Beijing to deteriorate, noting French President Emmanuel Macron had visited China twice since 2018 and German leaders four times.

Neither China nor Britain has officially announced Mr Starmer’s visit. The British embassy in Beijing said the Prime Minister’s travel would be announced in the usual way. China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Commercial ties soured after Britain banned China’s Huawei from its 5G networks in 2020, and in 2022, British lawmakers led a taxpayer-funded buyout of China General Nuclear Power’s stake in a nuclear plant being developed by France’s EDF, a multinational electric utility company.

China General Nuclear Power was part of the original CEO Council but, along with Huawei, is unlikely to join the revamped group, one of the sources said, citing political sensitivities in Britain over Chinese companies’ role in the country’s critical infrastructure.

At the council’s first meeting in 2018, China’s Mr Li said its aim was to “fast-track two-way investment and expand bilateral trade in a healthier, more balanced direction”, according to a readout published by the China International Contractors Association, one of the initiative’s organisers. REUTERS