UK PM, CHINESE PREZ MEETING CANCELLED OVER ’SCHEDULING ISSUES’: NO.10

NUSA DUA, INDONESIA: A planned G20 meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Xi Jinping of China has been cancelled due to “scheduling issues”, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The schedule at the summit on the Indonesian island of Bali has been disrupted by an emergency meeting called after a missile killed two people in Poland near its border with Ukraine.

Sunak and Xi had been due to hold the first meeting between British and Chinese leaders for almost five years, with Sunak’s office saying beforehand that the prime minister would seek to establish a “frank and constructive relationship”.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, “I have no information to share with you.”

“I would like to emphasise that China is committed to promoting the healthy and stable development of China-UK relations,” she added.

“We hope the UK works together with China.”

Relations between London and Beijing have deteriorated in the last decade as Britain expressed alarm that an open door to Chinese investment could pose national security risks. London had also criticised Beijing’s trade practices and human rights record in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

“The challenges posed by China are systemic and they are long-term,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, citing Beijing’s “authoritarian leadership intent on reshaping the international order”.