Meeting between China’s Xi Jinping and British PM Rishi Sunak called off due to ‘scheduling issues’

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A scheduled meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was called off, prompting questions about bilateral ties between the two nations.

Had it occurred, the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit would have been the first in-person bilateral talks between the leaders of the two countries in five years.

A Downing Street spokesperson said on Wednesday that the meeting has been cancelled due to “scheduling issues”.

The Guardian’s deputy political editor Jessica Elgot tweeted that the meeting was cancelled “because of time pressures after the snap meeting this morning on the missiles in Poland”.

The meeting was supposed to take place at around 3.30pm on Wednesday after the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali officially ended.

Sunak will deliver a press conference at 4.30pm.

The last in-person meeting between the leaders of Britain and China was in February 2018, when former British prime minister Theresa May paid a three-day official visit to Beijing.

Sunak took office in October, becoming the United Kingdom’s third prime minister this year as the country struggled with a troubled economy.

Xi-Biden talks: Taiwan is still the big red line in China-US relations

He was expected to take a less hawkish stance towards China compared to his predecessor Liz Truss, who planned to elevate China’s status to that of a “threat” as part of a refresh of Britain’s foreign and defence priorities.

But when he arrived in Bali on Tuesday, Sunak told reporters that China “poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests” and “represents the biggest state-based threat to our economic security”.

Sunak labelled China the “biggest long-term threat to Britain” and vowed to be tough on the country when he ran against Truss, who accused him of being weak on Beijing and Moscow. But he called for a “mature and balanced” relationship and closer economic ties with China when he spoke as finance minister in July of last year.

The British government described China as a “systemic competitor” in a review of foreign policy and defence last year.

Britain and China have clashed on several issues in recent years including human rights and democracy, despite their close trade links. London has often criticised Beijing on Uygur issues in Xinjiang and democratic freedoms in its former colony Hong Kong, and has blocked Huawei from its 5G telecoms network.

Last year, Britain joined the US and Australia in the Aukus security alliance, helping Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines to counter China’s military presence in the region.

Earlier this month, Beijing criticised British trade policy minister Greg Hands for visiting Taiwan for trade talks.

Additional reporting by Reuters