London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said his country's so-called "golden era" of relations with China is over.

In his first foreign policy speech, Sunak said the closer economic ties of the previous decade had been "naïve", reports BBC.

The prime minister said the UK had to replace wishful thinking with "robust pragmatism" towards competitors.

But he warned against "Cold War rhetoric", adding that China's global significance could not be ignored, BBC reported.

Since coming to power last year, Sunak has been facing pressure from Tory backbenchers to toughen the UK's stance on China.

His speech, at the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, comes after protests in China over the weekend against the country's strict Covid lockdown laws, reports BBC.

"We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism," he said.

He added that the "golden era" of UK-China relations was "over", along with the "naïve idea" that more trade with the West would lead to Chinese political reform.