UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to visit China in an attempt to reset frosty relations

Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is making his first trip to China in office this week in an attempt to reset the U.K.’s ties with Beijing and seek “pragmatic engagement” despite human rights and other concerns. Relations between Britain and China have turned increasingly frosty in recent years over a series of spying and cyberespionage allegations, Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war. Lammy is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai during a two-day trip that starts Friday, U.K. officials said Thursday. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson, Dave Pares, said one priority is securing the release of Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai.