The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China announced this week that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit China from 28 to 31 January, at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang. It will be the first visit by a British prime minister since 2018.
This is more than a routine diplomatic engagement. At a time of rising authoritarian assertiveness, intensifying pressure on the rules-based international order, and growing strain in transatlantic relations, Starmer’s visit is a test of whether Britain still has the confidence to defend its values while pursuing its interests.
The question is not whether Britain should engage with China. It is on what terms – and at what cost.
I write as chair of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, and as a Tibetan who was born and raised in refugee camps in Nepal before settling in the UK. I also write as someone who has seen Britain at its best. In 1999, during the state visit of then Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the young Keir Starmer acted as a pro bono barrister supporting activists and human rights organisations after peaceful protesters – including Tibetans – were arrested in London. I was among those detained for an alleged “breach of the peace.”
That episode matters not as personal history, but as a reminder: Britain once upheld the right to lawful protest even when it was diplomatically inconvenient. Those principles should not quietly erode now.
Trade, dialogue and diplomacy are legitimate and necessary tools of statecraft. Britain must trade, and it must engage with China. But human rights cannot be treated as a bargaining chip – discounted in exchange for access, investment or short-term returns. Engagement without ethical guardrails does not moderate authoritarian behaviour; it entrenches it.
This year marks 80 years since the first United Nations General Assembly, held in London in 1946. Britain helped shape a post-war international order grounded in human dignity, freedom and the rule of law. That legacy matters today, as authoritarian governments become more repressive at home and more coercive abroad.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Tibet.
Under Chinese rule, repression is systematic. Religious freedom is crushed, including devotion to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Cultural expression is criminalised. Surveillance permeates daily life. Tibetan language, history and identity are being steadily erased.
Most alarming is the forced placement of nearly one million Tibetan children into Chinese-run boarding schools, where Tibetan language, religion and culture are deliberately suppressed. UN experts and human rights bodies have warned that this policy constitutes cultural erasure and violates the rights of the child. This is not development. It is state-led social engineering.
The disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, remains one of the clearest symbols of this repression. Abducted at the age of six in 1995, he has now been missing for more than 30 years. Beijing continues to deny independent access or credible proof of his wellbeing, while imposing a state-appointed substitute to control Tibetan Buddhism. This is a grave violation of religious freedom with global implications.
Repression does not stop at China’s borders. Tibetan refugees in Nepal live under constant pressure as a result of Beijing’s influence. Peaceful protest is forbidden. Free expression is curtailed. Even exile has become a place of fear.
These concerns now resonate uncomfortably close to home. On 20 January 2026, the UK government approved China’s proposed mega-embassy at the Royal Mint Court after Tower Hamlets Council had twice rejected the application through democratic process. While Britain has obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, overriding local democracy following high-level political pressure – reportedly including interest from President Xi Jinping himself – sets a troubling precedent.
Authoritarian governments increasingly use overseas diplomatic infrastructure to facilitate surveillance, intimidation and transnational repression. Britain must not lose oversight as more countries, unsettled by recent transatlantic trade tensions, rush to deepen economic ties with China. Strategic engagement cannot mean surrendering democratic scrutiny.
Above all, persecuted communities in the UK – Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hongkongers, Chinese dissidents and others – must be assured that Britain remains a safe haven. Their right to free speech, peaceful protest and assembly outside the Chinese embassy and its consulates must be guaranteed, not quietly compromised.
China’s global economic reach, including through the Belt and Road Initiative, has already left many countries burdened with debt and weakened sovereignty. Britain should not repeat those mistakes. Nor should it kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party for the promise of investment now that planning approval has been secured.
Silence in the face of repression is not neutrality. It is acquiescence.
As a Labour prime minister, Starmer inherits a tradition rooted in internationalism, solidarity with the oppressed and the defence of human dignity. His visit to China is an opportunity– not to grandstand, but to lead. To show that Britain’s engagement with China will be principled, not transactional; strategic, not silent.
History will judge this visit not only by the agreements signed in Beijing, but by the values Britain chose to defend.
Tsering Passang is a Tibetan blogger and human rights advocate, and the founder and chair of the UK-based Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities. Born in Nepal and now living in the UK, he draws on his lived experience of exile to write and speak on democracy, human rights and minority protections. His work centres on inclusion, identity and belonging, amplifying the voices of marginalised and persecuted communities. Through his advocacy, he promotes awareness, justice and equal opportunity, working to ensure that the rights and dignity of all minorities are recognised and upheld.
*The views and opinion expressed above are those of the authors*
