Yvette Cooper to visit China and India amid global crises

The Foreign Secretary will travel to China and India this week as the UK seeks to strengthen relations with both countries.

Yvette Cooper will meet Chinese vice-president Han Zheng and foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday, before visiting the southern city of Shenzhen, a major technology hub near Hong Kong.

She will then travel to Delhi to meet her Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday along with businesspeople and academics.

Her discussions in both countries are expected to focus on the series of major crises around the world, including the wars in Iran and Ukraine and the outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ms Cooper’s visit to China comes five months after Sir Keir Starmer visited the country as Labour attempted to rebuild Britain’s partnership with Beijing after years of frostier relations under the Conservatives.

Several senior ministers have already visited the country, along with Sir Keir’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell.

The Prime Minister has also visited India in the past year, taking a trade delegation to Mumbai in October and meeting his counterpart Narendra Modi.