China’s Diplomatic, Trade Gains In Europe Continue As Trump Fumes

By Nitya Chakraborty

The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, January 29 in Beijing assumes special significance at a time when Britain is fighting its transatlantic ally U.S. over the sovereignty of Greenland and President Trump has mentioned security threat from China and Russia in Arctic as the major reason for U.S. move for takeover of the island.

British PM sidelined the security issue at his Beijing meeting and focused more on economic collaboration and other issues of common interest. He was accompanied by a high powered 60 member business delegation who were advised to make the most of opportunities to invest in China. The Chinese officials hailed the four day visit as a pivotal moment in the China- Britain bilateral relations.

For the Chinese President Xi Jinping, the visit had its own importance as the western media is full of stories about the sacking of most of the top Chinese military leaders including the number two in the last four months since October this year. This was a major development of political consequence in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. There were questions whether Xi was in full control. The Chinese supremo gave the impression of having total control of the post-purge situation and went on scoring diplomatic success one by one, hurting China’s main rival the U.S.

Chinese foreign policy analysts see the outcome of Xi-Starmer summit as the indication of the significant changes in foreign policy thinking of the European nations, including NATO members. China-UK relations have endured a prolonged downturn lasting several years. The “hot and cold” China policy of 10 Downing Street has been a major factor, yet it has clearly failed to deliver the benefits Britain had imagined. France and Germany on the other hand took more practical steps in stepping up collaboration with China.

Some UK government sources suggest that ignoring China will only make the country “poorer and less secure. In the face of an “unpredictable” US, Western countries are increasingly seeking greater “predictability” in their external relations. Against this backdrop, Starmer’s remarks can be seen as keeping pace with a range of latest statements by Western leaders – or, put differently, as a sign that Britain has finally come to take its position considering its own interests, without bothering for U.S. reaction.

Data shows that China is the UK’s fourth-largest trading partner in 2025, with trade totaling approximately $137 billion. China, with a massive consumer base of over 1.4 billion people, is an important market that British companies are eager to expand into. This constitutes an internal driving force for the development of China-UK relations.

From a longer-term perspective, at a time when the international order is facing severe challenges, China and the UK, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and major global economies, share common interests and important responsibilities on major issues such as upholding the postwar international order and the multilateral trading system. There may be differences on other issues between the two countries but that not restrain the growth of trade and business relationship between the two mature economies.

Starmer is the latest among the European and G-7 nations to visit China during this trade war period of Donald Trump Over the past two months, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo have successively visited China, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also expressed a desire for a visit. All these visits are taking place in the context of President Xi’s call for a multilateral global trade order as against the militant unilateralism of Donald Trump. China is giving the impression that it is ready for filling the space vacated by the U.S. by abdicating its role as the leader of the old global order, but China is not saying it loudly, it is suggesting it through actions.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out when meeting Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Tuesday, in a world confronted by multiple risks and challenges, the international community should join hands for response, adding that major countries should act as a good example to promote equality, observe the rule of law, pursue cooperation, and uphold integrity. The same approach XI mentioned to the other country heads when they met him.

The successful deals and meetings with the European nations and Canada are helping the Chinese President Xi Jinping is bargaining with the U.S. President Donald Trump when he visits Beijing in April this year for that crucial meeting which should lead to the conclusion of the China-US trade agreement. Trump will be meeting President Xi in a somewhat battered political state, unless something spectacular happens in American politics shoring up his fortunes. The US dollar is sinking, the Venezuela programme is in limbo as Trump’s massive oil and minerals development programme is getting no response from big US. Oil companies on the plea that the investments are uneconomic in terms of business. Trump is in a bind. He is also facing flak over his ICE programme against immigrants. Trump is also very worried at the outcome of November midterm polls.

All these may impact Trump’s bargaining power vis a vis President Xi in April summit. Despite the controversy over the recent military purges, Xi is benefitting from the stable growth of the Chinese economy in 2025 and its projected growth in 2026. There has been tremendous development in AI sector and research and development activities in the Chinese universities. If there is any bust in US stock market in AI sector due to too much investments by the U.S. high tech companies in AI without being sure of the revenues earned, the US economy will be affected, not so much the Chinese, where AI is based on much lower investment. These are worries for Trump. The April Trump-Xi summit will take place in this scenario. (IPA Service)

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