Chinese leader bestows a little largesse on the British PM while getting the green light for London ‘mega embassy’
L
et’s face it, this was never going to be a meeting of equals. Keir Starmer had been desperate to squeeze in a trip to China for some time. Another country to tick off his list and he always feels a lot better about himself when he’s abroad. Less noise from his unhappy MPs. Plus he loved the pomp and ceremony that came with it. The large flags. The military bands. A country that treated him with respect. Almost. Besides, Mark Carney and Emmanuel Macron had both made recent trips. He had seen their holiday photos. Now it was his turn. He couldn’t bear to be left out.
The Chinese? Not so much. They couldn’t really see the point. But they would schedule in a couple of meetings on the condition the UK government gave the green light to the new “mega embassy” near the Tower of London. Consider it done, said Keir. All systems go for the first prime-ministerial visit since Theresa May in 2018.
There were a few more conditions. Xi Jinping had made it clear there would be a joint press conference with himself and Starmer. Xi doesn’t take well to answering hostile questions from the media. Instead there would be a joint statement in which they mouthed mostly bland platitudes. A way of filling dead air. Keir had quickly agreed. Any opportunity to prevent a possible diplomatic incident was fine by him. He would handle the British media in his own way. Taking a long time to say not very much. Words that would die within milliseconds of broadcast. As though his entire plan for the trip had been to get as little TV coverage as possible. An unusual strategy. But the only one that made any real sense.
