THE China visit by British PM Sir Keir Starmer must be considered a moderate success, whether viewed from the standpoint of general atmosphere, or “mood music,” or in terms of economic and political outcomes.

Perhaps the greatest success was that it took place at all — and proceeded without any substantive mishaps. As Starmer himself put it, in the last few years the two countries’ bilateral relations had been plunged into an “ice age.”

As a result, it had been nearly eight years since a British prime minister, Theresa May, had set foot in China. In contrast, French President Emmanuel Macron had made three visits, the most recent in last December, and the leader of Germany has also visited multiple times, with a further visit scheduled for this month.

While travelling in the first month of the year, Starmer was already the third European head of government to visit China, being preceded by those of Ireland and Finland, and the second from the Anglophone “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance, being also preceded by his Canadian counterpart.

The president of the Republic of Korea made up the coterie of traditional Washington allies feeling compelled to hedge against the increasingly maverick and unstable behaviour of the present occupant of the White House in the first month of 2026.

Starmer was thus beating an already well-trodden path. Unlike the more outspoken and strategically minded Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, he chose to position his approach in terms of pragmatism and common sense, claiming them to be British characteristics and virtues.

The results were therefore real but limited.

The almost certain grant by China of unilateral visa-free entry for stays of up to 30 days will be welcomed by tourists and businesspeople alike and will promote people-to-people engagement.

The official website of the British government boasted that the Prime Minister had “secured billions in exports and investment deals” but a number of the key outcomes highlighted were somewhat prosaic in comparison to the rhetoric. For example, the promise of up to seven new shops selling Labubu dolls might be cute, and the promise of 150 jobs welcome, but they don’t exactly constitute a sustainable economic gamechanger.

The reduction of tariffs on whisky from 10 per cent to 5 per cent will be doubtless welcomed in Scotland — whose late first minister Alex Salmond worked hard to wean Chinese consumers away from cognac to his country’s national beverage. China is currently the 10th biggest export market for Scotch whisky.

Hopefully, Wales’s Penderyn whisky and the north of Ireland’s Bushmills will also leverage the new dispensation in their export drives. Personally, I’m old enough to remember when, in the early 1980s, the Xinhua News Agency’s London Bureau was refused participation in a press trip for London-based overseas journalists by the Scotch Whisky Association on the grounds that China would never be one of their export markets.

There was good news, too, for Liverpool, with the city being chosen as the first-ever European headquarters for a major Chinese vehicle manufacturer. Chery Commercial Vehicles (CCV) will open a major new site, creating large numbers of high-value jobs for local people and positioning Liverpool, where the Ford Halewood plant once employed some 14,500 workers, and the wider Merseyside region, at the forefront of Europe’s fast-growing electric vehicle sector, supporting research, engineering, innovation and commercial development.

The agreement by pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca to invest $15 billion in China through 2030, to promote both production and research and development, will, according to Starmer, also support thousands of British jobs and reinforce Britain’s life sciences sector.

While the visit had an almost relentlessly economic focus, everything ultimately rests on a political foundation.

Stressing the need for boldness and strategic farsightedness, President Xi Jinping told his visitor: “Range far your eye over long vistas,” adding: “As long as we take a broad perspective, rise above differences and respect each other, then we will prove ourselves able to stand the test of history.”

Significantly, President Xi chose to quote here from Mao Zedong’s famous 1949 poem, Reply to Mr Liu Ya-Tzu:

Beware of heartbreak with grievance overfull,
Range far your eye over long vistas

The Chinese leader also stressed that: “Your visit this time has drawn a lot of attention. Sometimes good things take time. As long as it is the right thing that serves the fundamental interests of the country and the people, then as leaders we should not shy away from difficulties, and we should press ahead with fortitude.”

He also made a point of noting that: “In the past, Labour governments made important contributions to the growth of China-UK relations.”

Xi’s words were apposite and well-targeted. On the eve of his visit, in an interview with the financial news service Bloomberg, Starmer insisted that, whilst he was often called upon to choose between countries, that was not his way, indicating rather an intention to pursue what might be termed a tripod foreign policy embracing the United States, the European Union and China.

However, the fact that the legs of this tripod are of different lengths might attest to a certain inherent instability.

Asked what he thought of Starmer trying to forge closer business ties with China, US President Donald Trump, who himself plans to visit China in April, said: “Well, it’s very dangerous for them to do that.” He then added: “It’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.”

Unlike the relatively robust response one has come to expect from Carney, not least with his historic Davos speech, Starmer could only reply: “I think, to be fair, he was probably talking more about Canada than the United Kingdom.” A comment somewhat redolent of those who previously affected to assume that the US president’s threats to annex Greenland were some kind of a joke, albeit perhaps one in poor taste. Perhaps the former governor of the Bank of England should not invest too much hope in solidarity from London as he strives to defend Canadian independence.

Moreover, Starmer’s welcome moves to improve British relations with China also face opposition from powerful quarters at home. The days when government and “loyal opposition” generally maintained a position of bipartisanship when it came to diplomacy and representing the country abroad now seem dead and buried.

Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK would generally be considered to have little in common with the Liberal Democrats. But they were almost equally vociferous in excoriating Starmer’s mission.

For her part, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch told a press conference: “Would I be going to China? No, not now, because I don’t think that this is the time to do that. We need to be talking to those other countries who are worried about the threat China is posing to them.”

Her statement merely serves to underline the historic decline, under a succession of incompetent and eccentric leaders, of whom she is but the latest incarnation, of the Conservative Party, from what, for centuries, considered itself, and was considered by the British Establishment, to be the “natural party of government,” towards a demagogic and irresponsible irrelevance.

Such views are naturally supported and amplified by the rabidly right-wing sections of the British press, with, for example, the Daily Mail ludicrously headlining: “We’re both Reds! Communist Xi Jinping tells Starmer he prefers Labour governments.”

To face all this down may require not simply common sense and pragmatism but degrees of political skill and courage that the Prime Minister has yet to show signs of possessing.

There is, of course, a way forward. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 2026 UK-China Business Council meeting, which formed part of the British Prime Minister’s programme, Li Qiang said that China and Britain should continue to carry forward the “ice-breaking spirit” and tighten their bonds of cooperation. In doing so, the Chinese premier clearly referred not simply to his British counterpart’s words about an ice age of a few days previously, but more significantly invoked China’s continued respect for the July 1953 “Icebreaker Mission” — the first business delegation of its kind from any Western nation following the founding of New China — that led to the formation of the 48 Group of British Traders with China, with its core values, inspired by premier Zhou Enlai, of equality and mutual benefit. If correctly utilised, that historical memory retains a powerful ability to drive a healthy bilateral relationship that will promote both prosperity and peace. That some 60 leaders of business, culture and the arts, and sports accompanied the Prime Minister to Beijing and Shanghai shows that the icebreaking spirit is alive and well. It needs to be pursued with the same courage and drive as was shown by the pioneers of more than 70 years ago.

Keith Bennett is co-editor of Friends of Socialist China (socialistchina.org).