Xi Jinping and Rishi Sunak
(Picture: Oli Scarff/Leon Neal/PA)Rishi Sunak’s meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali has been called off amid an emergency meeting over missiles crossing into Poland.
The bilateral talks, which would have been the first such meeting between Britain and China in almost five years, were due to take place on Wednesday afternoon.
Downing St said the meeting was cancelled due to timings changing after the emergency meeting of G7 and Nato leaders over the explosion in Poland which killed two people.
Initial reports suggested the missile may have been accidentally fired into Polish territory by Russia, but on Wednesday US President Joe Biden said it was “unlikely” to have been fired from within Russia based on its trajectory.
No10 had said Mr Sunak intended to use the meeting to establish a “frank and constructive relationship”, but he would not shy away from raising human rights concerns.
The proposed meeting came after the Prime Minister declined to commit to categorising China as a “threat”, which Liz Truss had vowed to do.
However, some in Mr Sunak’s party have voiced unhappiness at the Government’s position on China.
Several Tory MPs, including security minister Tom Tugendhat and science minister Nus Ghani have had Chinese sanctions placed upon them for their criticism of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith earlier warned the Government against “drifting into appeasement”, saying Xi Jinping would view it as weakness.
Theresa May was the last prime minister to meet Xi, during a visit to Beijing in January 2018.
However, relations have soured in recent years over China’s curtailment of free speech and democracy in Hong Kong and security concerns about Chinese companies being involved in national infrastructure.
Mr Sunak also met Mr Biden on the sidelines of the summit, for the pair’s first full in-person talks.
He described the US as the UK’s “closest ally” and said the “partnership between our countries is unique and enduring”.
