LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer will fly to China on Tuesday on the first visit by a British leader in eight years, in a bid to mend ties with the world's second-largest economy and reduce its dependence on an increasingly unpredictable United States.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s decision to place the country’s top-ranking general under investigation is a stunning move that leaves Xi virtually alone at the top of the military hierarchy – raising deep questions about the implications for the world’s largest armed forces,