Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government why representatives of the UK media were refused permission to accompany the Chancellor of the Exchequer on her visit to China; and whether representatives of the government of China were consulted before this decision was made.

The government is taking a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK. This means cooperating where we can, competing where we need to, and challenging where we must.

The Chancellor’s visit to China for the 2025 UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue was consistent with this approach and was the UK’s first substantive engagement with China on nationally important economic and financial issues in five years. The Chancellor was accompanied by a small delegation as we looked to re-open dialogue and respectfully yet robustly strengthen our lines of communication.

The Chancellor took questions from journalists from UK and international media organisations while she was in Beijing and representatives of the government of China were aware of these plans before the fact.

The government published a press statement about the Chancellor’s visit on Saturday 11 January. [1.]

1 - UK Government, 11 January 2025. Chancellor marks £600m of secure growth for UK economy in Beijing. [Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-marks-600m-of-secure-growth-for-uk-economy-in-beijing]