LONDON/BEIJING: British foreign secretary David Lammy will visit China on a two-day visit starting on Friday in a bid to improve relations between the two countries after years of tensions over security concerns and alleged human rights abuses.
Lammy will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing before visiting Shanghai to meet British businesses operating in China, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday.
“It’s all about bringing a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s position on China,” the spokesperson told reporters, adding that Britain was prepared to challenge China where needed but also identify areas for co-operation.
Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said the talks would focus on improving cooperation in various fields.
It will be only the second visit by a British foreign minister in six years after Lammy’s Conservative predecessor James Cleverly’s trip last year. Before that, there had been a five-year gap in a visit to China by a British foreign minister.
Labour, who won a landslide election victory in July, is seeking to stabilize relations with Beijing after clashes over human rights, Hong Kong, and allegations of Chinese espionage.
Starmer told President Xi Jinping in the first conversation between the two in August that he wanted Britain and China to pursue closer economic ties while being free to talk frankly about their disagreements.
China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and British finance minister Rachel Reeves last month discussed how they can work together to boost economic growth.
Following the exchange, Beijing said it was willing to resume the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue — an annual forum for talks on trade, investment and other economic issues, which had not taken place since 2019.
Under the previous Conservative government, Britain expressed concern about China’s curbing of civil freedoms in Hong Kong, which was under British control until 1997, and its treatment of people in its western Xinjiang region.
Britain and China also traded accusations over perceived spying.
China is Britain’s sixth-largest trading partner, accounting for 5 percent of total trade, British government figures show.
UK foreign minister to visit China to rebuild damaged ties
https://arab.news/4a8me
UK foreign minister to visit China to rebuild damaged ties
- Lammy will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing before visiting Shanghai to meet British businesses operating in China
- Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said the talks would focus on improving cooperation in various fields
Trump says Australia will grant asylum to Iran women footballers
- Presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem
MIAMI: US President Donald Trump said Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team, amid fears they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
The gesture ahead of the team’s Asian Cup match against South Korea last week was seen by many as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic just two days after the United States and Israel attacked it.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of,” Trump said Monday on his Truth Social network, less than two hours after an initial post urging Australia to take them in.
Trump added that “some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
There was no immediate comment from the Australian government, which has so far declined to say whether it could offer the players asylum.
Asked about their case on Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia “stands in solidarity” with the people of Iran.
The son of Iran’s late shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, warned on Monday that the refusal to sing the anthem could have “dire consequences,” and urged Australia to offer the team protection.
Trump then weighed in, pressing Albanese to “give ASYLUM” to the team and adding: “The US will take them if you won’t.”
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed,” the US leader said on Truth Social.
Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, has billed himself as the man to lead a democratic transition to a secular Iran as the theocratic regime fights to survive.
Politicians, human rights activists and even “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling have also called for the team to be offered official protection.
“Please, protect these young women,” Rowling said in a post on social media.
‘Save our girls’
A presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem before their match against South Korea.
In subsequent games, the players saluted and sang.
Crowds gathered outside the Gold Coast stadium where the side played their last match over the weekend, banging drums and shouting “regime change for Iran.”
They then surrounded the Iranian team bus, chanting “let them go” and “save our girls.”
On Monday, an AFP journalist saw members of the team speaking on phones from their balcony of their hotel.
Asked about the possibility of granted asylum, a spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs department told AFP earlier it “cannot comment on the circumstances of individuals.”
Amnesty International campaigner Zaki Haidari said they faced persecution, or worse, if they were sent home.
“Some of these team members probably have had their families already threatened,” Haidari told AFP.
“Them going back... who knows what sort of punishment they will receive?“
Despite being heavily monitored, the side would have a “small window of opportunity” to seek asylum at the airport, he said.
Iran’s embassy in Australia did not respond to a request for comment.
