Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Beijing, the first British leader to make an official visit to China since 2018, saying he believes he can unlock business opportunities there despite security concerns.
A chartered British Airways jet flew the prime minister overnight to Beijing – reportedly to keep Chinese spies off the prime minister’s own government plane – for his first three-day visit to China, which the Labor leader hopes will thaw relations after the “ice age”.
The hasty visit was officially announced by China only on Tuesday and appears to be a reward for Starmer after the British government forced Beijing to allow it to build a new “mega-embassy” in London just last week. The new complex, which will be the largest embassy in Western Europe when completed, has been the subject of intense criticism over spying and national security fears, but it was nevertheless signed off by a minister in the Starmer government.
BEIJING, CHINA – JANUARY 28: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives in Beijing, China on January 28, 2026 (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
While Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 said it believed any risk from the new mega-embassy could be reduced to an acceptable level, top spies have repeatedly warned about the threat to Britain from Chinese intelligence. And it seems that this journey is being cut short many times Reporting that Prime Minister Starmer and “her entire team” have been issued single-use “burner” mobile phones and laptops for their trip to China if they are secretly compromised while in the communist country.
Indeed, it stated that “no government equipment will be moved into the country over concerns about Chinese Communist Party spying”. Tom Tugendhat, former security minister and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, claimed this extended to the choice of aircraft. While national flag carrier British Airways is part of a delegation of 60 UK businesses accompanying the prime minister to Beijing, and the trip may be beyond the single-leg range of the government’s medium-haul private plane, Tugendhat said the swap of the state Airbus for a chartered civilian flight was meant to confuse Chinese spies.
He wrote: “…they’re taking a burner plane! The government jet is staying at home because it will need to be protected 24/7 to prevent China from putting bugs in it.”
Sir Keir will be the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years, since Theresa May’s 2018 visit, with Beijing understood to have blocked high-level diplomatic contacts unless London agreed to allow that mega-embassy. It has also refused to allow the United Kingdom to replace its own “crumbling” embassy in Beijing to help force the London embassy.
Starmer, for his part, has insisted that the visit could be good for business and help make Britain richer. In remarks in the lead-up to the trip, he rejected the idea that cooperating with China could jeopardize relations with the United States, despite President Trump having already threatened Canada with hefty additional tariffs to weaken the Western alliance.
The Prime Minister told Bloomberg this week that he does not believe Britain will have to choose between China and the US, commenting: “We have a very close relationship with the US – of course, we want to – and we will maintain that business, along with security and defence… Just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China, when it is the second largest economy in the world and there are trade opportunities, would not be wise.”
Embattled Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch answered questions from the press on Wednesday morning and accused Starmer of weakness for selling out the London mega-embassy for a trip to the capital. She said: “He needs to show strength, not approve a super-embassy that many people think is going to become a spy center. He seems to give way every time things get difficult.”
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Starmer is to visit Beijing and Shanghai, and hold meetings with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and top Chinese Communist Party official Zhao Leji.
The United Kingdom is the target of a massive and years-long Chinese espionage campaign, Breitbart News reports. It has now been said that Chinese spies hacked and monitored the cell phones of top UK government officials inside Downing Street in an operation that also saw other Five Eyes allies Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States monitored.
