BEIJING – China will never pose a threat to other countries no matter how it grows and develops, Chinese President Xi Jinping said when he met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Beijing on Thursday.
Emphasizing China's commitment to peaceful development, Xi said China has never initiated a war, nor occupied an inch of foreign land.
The two countries agreed to develop a long-term and stable comprehensive strategic partnership.
Xi called on both China and Britain, as supporters for multilateralism and free trade, to jointly advocate and practice true multilateralism. International law can only be truly effective when all countries abide by it, he added.
He also said that major countries should take the lead in particular, otherwise, the world would risk regressing into the law of the jungle.
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Xi urged extending frontiers in mutually beneficial cooperation with Britain in education, medicare, finance and the service industry.
Noting the essence of the economic and trade cooperation between China and Britain is mutual benefit and win-win results, he called on the two sides to carry out joint research and industrial transformation in the fields of artificial intelligence, bioscience, new energy and low-carbon technologies, among others, to achieve common development and prosperity.
Visa waiver for British citizens
China is willing to actively consider granting unilateral visa waiver to British people, said the Chinese president.
“Both sides should enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and further facilitate travel," he said.
The British PM arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for an official visit to China through Saturday.
