 "British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping of China, at the Sheraton Hotel, as he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 18, 2024. Image- Reuters")
Chinese officials forcibly removed British journalists from a G20 meeting between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. Reporters were aggressively ushered out as Starmer raised human rights issues during their first meeting in over six years.
Xi and Starmer met in Rio de Janeiro on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit on Monday, according to Xinhua. The meeting is the first to take place between a British prime minister and Xi since 2018.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the two countries enjoy a vast space for cooperation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
While in Rio de Janeiro, Xi is expected to meet with several world leaders at a time when conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as incoming Trump-led United States, have made efforts to build consensus within the G20 more difficult than before.
With inputs from agencies.