U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in China seeking to balance her desire to build a powerful post-Brexit trade relationship with a clutch of political concerns.

At the start of a three-day trade mission to the country, May said she would raise the sensitive topics of China’s human rights record and Hong Kong democracy in talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Her reluctance to formally endorse Xi’s global Belt and Road trade-and-infrastructure initiative also risks impeding her pursuit of more robust ties.

“China is a country that we want to do a trade deal with,” May told reporters on board her flight from London to Wuhan, which landed on Wednesday. The nature of the relationship between the two countries means she can still discuss “those issues” of concern, she said. “I will be raising both human rights and the issue of Hong Kong.”

May’s business mission to China is meant to demonstrate her government’s intent to forge a global trade policy after leaving the European Union next year. While the U.K. can’t sign any deals outside the EU before leaving the bloc—and wouldn’t be able to implement them before at least 2021—she’s hoping to strike now, while Xi works to establish himself as a leading defender of globalization.

China is also keen to build greater ties with a key U.S. ally and long-time pillar of Europe. Even before Brexit, May’s predecessor, David Cameron, had promised a “golden era” of relations with China, hosting Xi on a state visit in October 2015.

A commentary published Wednesday by the state-run Xinhua News Agency said the “‘liberating effect’ of Brexit” could help ties between the two sides reach a “new high.” China and the U.K. plan to step up cooperation in energy, nuclear technology, high-speed railways, aerospace and artificial intelligence, Xinhua said.

The two sides are discussing the feasibility of a bond-trading link that would mark a fresh step in opening up the world’s largest emerging debt market, Bloomberg reported last month, citing people familiar with the matter.

Trade Barriers

May’s delegation—which includes 50 business leaders, Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a clutch of officials and her husband—are optimistic about progress toward formal trade talks. The group includes Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of AstraZeneca; Mark E. Tucker, chairman, HSBC Holdings plc; Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover; Bill Winters, group chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank; and Nikhil Rathi, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group.

“A number of the businesses here are looking to confirm some deals in China which will be good for the U.K. economy,” May said. “There’s more that we can be doing in the interim, right now, in terms of looking at potential barriers to trade and the opening up of markets.”

Asked why she wouldn’t formally join the Belt and Road Initiative, May struck a diplomatic tone, saying the plan had the “potential to be a hugely significant investment and to have a huge, significant impact.” 

Transparency, Standards

She added a caveat: “What I would like to see is ensuring that we have transparency and international standards being adhered to—and I will be discussing that with my Chinese interlocutors,” she said.

Standard Chartered said in December that it plans to facilitate at least $20 billion of financing for the Belt and Road Initiative by 2020.

There were more cautionary words from May on China’s human rights record and concerns over democracy in the former British colony of Hong Kong, which the U.K. returned in 1997 on a promise to maintain the city’s “high-degree of autonomy” for 50 years. On Monday, the European Union warned that Hong Kong risked diminishing its “international reputation as a free and open society” after banning a pro-democracy activist from running for the city’s legislature.

“We believe that the future of Hong Kong, that ‘one country, two systems’ future is important,” May said. “We are committed to that. I’ve raised this in the past with President Xi, and he’s shown commitment to that. And I will continue to raise it.”