PM’s position on China now looks confused and conflicted at best
It had been billed as the Prime Minister’s most highly anticipated meeting at the G20 – face-to-face talks with Xi Jinping that were set to rework Britain’s testy relationship with China.
Yet news of the last-minute cancellation of Rishi Sunak’s tête-à-tête with the Chinese president – the first ‘bilat’ to be held in half a decade – should serve as a reminder that when it comes to dealing with Beijing, western leaders tend to be damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Although a Downing Street spokesman insisted the meeting was no longer happening because of the movements to schedules caused by Tuesday night’s missile strike in Poland, the suggestion is that it was pulled by China, having been requested by the British.
Whatever the truth of the cancellation, Mr Sunak now finds himself in the invidious position of appearing to be snubbed by the leader of the world’s second-biggest economy – while angering his own backbenchers for agreeing to the meeting in the first place.