UK PM to head to China, Japan on Tuesday

London: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will head to China and Japan late Tuesday, his spokesman confirmed, on what would be the first official visit t...

London: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will head to China and Japan late Tuesday, his spokesman confirmed, on what would be the first official visit to Beijing by a British premier since 2018.

"He will depart for his travel to China and Japan on Tuesday night," the Downing Street spokesman told reporters on Monday.

The visit will be at the heart of Starmer's ambition to reset ties with China, an economic powerhouse, after relations between London and Beijing sank to new lows under the previous Conservative government.

The announcement of his trip comes less than a week after the British government approved contentious plans to build a "mega-embassy" in the heart of London.

The 20,000-square-metre (235,000-square-foot) site is set to become the largest embassy complex in the UK by area, and one of the largest in the centre of a Western capital.