Starmer and Xi call for deeper UK-China ties as Trump shakes up global relations

By KEN MORITSUGU and JILL LAWLESS

BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of Britain and China called Thursday for a “strategic partnership” to deepen ties between their nations at a time of growing global turbulence as they sought to thaw relations after years of chill.

Neither Prime Minister Keir Starmer nor President Xi Jinping publicly mentioned Donald Trump, but the U.S. president’s challenge to the post-Cold War order was clearly on their minds.

“In the current turbulent and ever-changing international situation … China and the U.K. need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to maintain world peace and stability,” Xi told Starmer at the start of their meeting.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Xi had stressed, without mentioning the U.S. directly, that “major powers” must adhere to international law or the world would regress into a “jungle.”