BEIJING, July 7, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday
congratulated new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his election, state
media reported, the first senior leader in Beijing to do so publicly.

China is "willing to work with the new UK government to consolidate mutual
political trust and expand mutually beneficial cooperation", Li told Starmer,
according to state news agency Xinhua.

Their call came after days of silence from top officials in Beijing, with the
Chinese foreign ministry saying only that it noted the results of the UK
election.

By comparison, Chinese leader Xi Jinping congratulated Iran's incoming
president Masoud Pezeshkian just hours after his election on Saturday.

China was Britain's fifth-largest trading partner as of 2023, according to
the UK Department for Business and Trade.

But diplomatic relations between the two countries have been icy in recent
years, with Beijing and London sparring over tightening communist control in
former British colony Hong Kong.

The two sides have also traded accusations of espionage, with Beijing saying
last month that MI6 had recruited Chinese state employees to spy for the UK.

Xinhua on Sunday said Li told Starmer that the "strengthening of bilateral
coordination and cooperation was in the interests of both sides".