British Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledges ‘more diplomacy’ in approach to China

Lammy says the new Labour government will aim to be ‘consistent’ in its approach to Beijing in contrast to its Conservative predecessor

Reading Time:2 minutes

Foreign ministers David Lammy and Wang Yi met in Beijing on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:40pm, 19 Oct 2024Updated: 7:27pm, 19 Oct 2024

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Saturday called for a resumption of dialogue between London and Beijing, urging the two sides to engage in “more diplomacy” as he concluded a rare diplomatic visit to China.

Lammy met Chinese officials including his counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Friday, before travelling to financial hub Shanghai.

Wang said the relationship “now stands at a new starting point,” adding that “competition among major powers should not be the backdrop of this era”.

“UK policy in the past under the last [Conservative] government was not consistent and what I’m hearing is that we need consistency in our approach,” Lammy told reporters on Saturday.

Lammy said he pressed his Chinese hosts on issues including Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan, where Britain is “worried about some of the tensions that we see in the Taiwan Strait, because that is not in the interests of the global community”.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Britain, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but it opposes any attempt to take the island by force.

But Lammy said there were also “areas where we can cooperate and collaborate with the Chinese”.