UK says foreign minister's meeting with Chinese counterpart was constructive

Britain on Friday described foreign minister David Lammy's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as constructive, and said both sides committed to keeping an open dialogue between the two nations.

"The meeting was constructive across the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, from areas of pragmatic cooperation to issues of contention," a foreign office statement on the meeting said.

"Both the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister agreed that maintaining channels of communication was essential and committed to holding regular discussions across their respective governments at Ministerial level."

The statement said Lammy had urged Wang to take all measures to investigate and to prevent Chinese companies from supplying Russia's military.

Earlier this year, Britain said it was extremely concerned after Reuters reported Russia has established a weapons programme in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in the war against Ukraine.