Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday that the UK has a "huge amount to offer" China, and his "very warm" meetings with Chinese leaders provided "just the level of engagement that we hoped for".

Starmer told a meeting of the UK-China Business Forum in Beijing on Friday morning that both sides had "warmly engaged" and "made some real progress".

Starmer met top leaders, including Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.

The meetings the previous day provided "just the level of engagement that we hoped for", Starmer said.

He signed a series of agreements on Thursday, with Beijing allowing visa-free travel for British passport holders visiting China for under 30 days. Starmer hailed the agreements as "symbolic of what we're doing with the relationship".

"That is the way that we build the mutual trust and respect that is so important," he told the event, attended by people in business from both Britain and China.

But in Washington, US President Donald Trump warned Britain against getting into business with China.

During the premiere of the "Melania" film at the Kennedy Centre, Trump ⁠was asked about the UK pledging greater business ties with China, and he said: "Well, it's very dangerous for them to do that."

The first visit to China by a British prime minister in eight years, Starmer's trip follows in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.

Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump's bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against Nato allies.

Starmer, whose centre-left Labour government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised, has made improving relations with the world's second-largest economy a priority.

He said on the plane on the way to China that Britain could continue to strengthen economic ties with China – without angering Trump because of his country's long history of working closely with the United States.

"The relationship we have with the US is one of the closest relationships we hold, on defence, security, intelligence and also on trade and lots of areas," he said.

Starmer said Britain would not have to choose between closer ties with the United States or China, highlighting Trump’s visit to Britain in September where they announced 150 billion pounds of US investment into Britain.

Trump earlier this week threatened to impose tariffs on Canada if it goes through with economic deals struck with China on a recent visit to Beijing by its leader Mark Carney.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to travel to China soon and Trump himself ⁠has said he will visit in April. (Agencies)