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The foreign secretary has insisted “diplomacy makes a difference” as he meets senior members of the Chinese government in Beijing – despite questions back home over his party’s approach to the country.

The officials James Cleverly is meeting include foreign affairs minister Wang Yi and vice president Han Zheng and he is expected to discuss issues ranging from climate change to international security in what is the first visit to China by a UK foreign secretary in more than five years.

Politics live: Cleverly meets top Chinese officials in landmark trip

But it comes amid a rift in the Conservatives over whether the government should take a tougher stance on Beijing, with former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith going as far as comparing the current approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

After meeting Mr Zheng early on Wednesday morning, Mr Cleverly told reporters his visit was about “making sure we are able to speak regularly about bilateral issues – both the areas where we disagree but also areas where we need to cooperate [such as] the fight against climate change”, as well as making sure China understands the UK’s core positions.

“[China] is an important country, it is a large country, an influential country, and a complicated country, and therefore our relationship with China will necessarily be just as complicated and sophisticated,” added the foreign secretary.

“We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China and I raise those issues when we meet, but I think it is important we also recognise that we have to have a pragmatic sensible working relationship with China because of the issues that affect us all around the globe.

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“So, of course, we will pursue a pragmatic working relationship, but that does of course mean raising the issues where we disagree when we have the opportunity to do so.”

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‘Stakes are high’ as foreign sec visits China

Asked if words in meetings would be enough to spark change, Mr Cleverly replied: “Diplomacy makes a difference, that’s why it exists, that is why it is a function of international relations that has endured for centuries.

“Regular face-to-face discussions, where you can raise those issues where we disagree directly, unambiguously, without being filtered through media, are incredibly important.

“I am clear-eyed… that we are not going to change China overnight and we are certainly not going to do it in one individual meeting. But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue.”

‘Confusion across Whitehall’ on China

Mr Cleverly’s trip comes on the same day MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee called for an unclassified strategy on China that does not just deal with trade and security, but also diplomatic engagement, human rights and technological cooperation.

The committee’s 87-page report is in response to the “Tilt to the Indo-Pacific” announced in the Integrated Review of 2021, in which the government identified Russia as an “active threat” and China as a “systemic challenge”.

But the committee’s report said there was “confusion across Whitehall” about the new policy focus, arising from a “failure to explain” it.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the committee, told Sky News the government’s current China strategy was “at the highest possible security level”.

“That means that some government ministers have not even seen it,” she added. “So I question how you can have a comprehensive cross-government strategy where ministers themselves don’t know what they’re working towards.”

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Kearns: ‘It’s important Cleverly is in the room’

Ms Kearns said there was “big uncertainty” for the business community and academics, leaving them “unsure of the boundaries between caution and collaboration” with China.

“Now, the Chinese Communist Party are very explicit on what they’re seeking to achieve, and they are therefore exploiting this uncertainty, which is why we have to end it for the publication of an unclassified China strategy,” she said.

In the report, the chair also described Taiwan – which fears an invasion by China – as an “important ally and partner of the UK” and urged the government to “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the island and make clear that attempts to undermine its self-determination were “unacceptable”.

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‘China cannot be ignored’

Responding to the report, a government spokesperson said the Integrated Review refresh “outlines clearly and in detail our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

They said Mr Cleverly had set out the China strategy too, “including strengthening our national security protections and engaging where it is in the UK’s interests to do so – that is what he is now doing during his trip to China”.

The spokesperson added: “We are reviewing the report’s findings in detail and will respond in due course.”

The visit signals a further move in government policy to engage with Beijing, despite ongoing calls from Tory MPs – some of whom have been sanctioned by China – to take a harder line on the country’s activities, especially when it comes to human rights violations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already softened his language – moving from calling China “the biggest long-term threat to Britain” in his leadership campaign last summer, to instead saying the UK should stand up to China “with robust pragmatism”.

But his predecessor in Number 10, Liz Truss, has criticised the direction of travel and called for a more robust approach, saying in a speech earlier this year that French President Emmanuel Macron’s own visit to China was “a sign of weakness”, and Western governments had been “appeasing” the autocratic regime.

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‘You can’t believe a word they say’

Ms Kearns didn’t criticise the foreign secretary’s trip, saying it was “more important James Cleverly is in the room vociferously disagreeing with them” and backed the idea of Mr Sunak meeting with Chinese President Xi at the upcoming G20 summit.

‘Chop and change’ should end

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said the UK needed “a far more strategic approach towards China”, telling Sky News: “The Chinese leadership always takes a long-term approach when it comes to their interests, but as a country over the last 13 years, we’ve really not had a strategic approach towards China… We need to have that longer term approach.”

Asked if she would be happy for Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy to make the trip to Beijing, Ms Dodds said: “There needs to be engagement, but it can’t be ad hoc.”

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is ‘totally’ up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is 'totally' up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs

The chancellor has said she was having a “tough day” yesterday in her first public comments since appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions – but insisted she is “totally” up for the job.

Rachel Reeves told broadcasters: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.

“My job as chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government, and that’s what I tried to do.

“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.”

Politics latest: PM sets out 10-year NHS plan

She declined to give a reason behind the tears, saying “it was a personal issue” and “it wouldn’t be right” to divulge it.

“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job,” she added.

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Ms Reeves also said she is “totally” up for the job of chancellor, saying: “This is the job that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m proud of what I’ve delivered as chancellor.”

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Reeves was seen wiping away tears during PMQs. Pic: PA

Asked if she was surprised that Sir Keir Starmer did not back her more strongly during PMQs, she reiterated that she and the prime minister are a “team”, saying: “We fought the election together, we changed the Labour Party together so that we could be in the position to return to power, and over the past year, we’ve worked in lockstep together.”

PM: ‘I was last to appreciate’ that Reeves was crying

The chancellor’s comments come after the prime minister told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that he “didn’t appreciate” that she was crying behind him at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday because the weekly sessions are “pretty wild”, which is why he did not offer her any support while in the chamber.

He added: “It wasn’t just yesterday – no prime minister ever has had side conversations during PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there’s a bit more time, but in PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang. That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

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Starmer explains to Beth Rigby his reaction to Reeves crying in PMQs

During PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill, leaving a “black hole” in the public finances.

The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening – but a total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill, which was the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s lone parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.

Reeves looks transformed – but this has been a disastrous week for the PM

It is a Rachel Reeves transformed that appears in front of the cameras today, nearly 24 hours since one of the most extraordinary PMQs.

Was there a hint of nervousness as she started, aware of the world watching for any signs of human emotion? Was there a touch of feeling in her face as the crowds applauded her?

People will speculate. But Ms Reeves has got through her first public appearance, and can now, she hopes, move on.

The prime minister embraced her as he walked on stage, the health secretary talked her up: “Thanks to her leadership, we have seen wages rising faster than the cost of living.”

A show of solidarity at the top of government, a prime minister and chancellor trying to get on with business.

But be in no doubt today’s speech on a 10-year-plan for the NHS has been overshadowed. Not just by a chancellor in tears, but what that image represents.

A PM who, however assured he appeared today, has marked his first year this week, as Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby put to him, with a “self-inflicted shambles”.

She asked: “How have you got this so wrong? How can you rebuild trust? Are you just in denial?”

They are questions Starmer will be grappling with as he tries to move past a disastrous week.

Ms Reeves has borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.

Ms Badenoch also said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she will, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

Downing Street scrambled to make clear to journalists that Ms Reeves was “going nowhere”, and the prime minister has since stated publicly that she will remain as chancellor “for many years to come”.

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Bitcoin Suisse legal chief flags gaps in EU, Swiss stablecoin rules

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Bitcoin Suisse legal chief flags gaps in EU, Swiss stablecoin rules

Bitcoin Suisse legal chief flags gaps in EU, Swiss stablecoin rules

Peter Märkl, general counsel at Bitcoin Suisse, criticized both EU and Swiss stablecoin regulations as inadequate and burdensome.

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Tether narrows USDC’s lead on BitPay payment transactions in 2025

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Tether narrows USDC’s lead on BitPay payment transactions in 2025

Tether narrows USDC’s lead on BitPay payment transactions in 2025

BitPay’s USDC stablecoin transactions accounted for almost double that of USDT in 2024, but the trend has shifted in favor of Tether this year.

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