UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is set to visit China in the last week of August for talks focused on Russia and Ukraine, people familiar with his plans said.
He is also likely to visit the Philippines as part of the trip, the people added, requesting anonymity discussing matters that have not been made public. Britain’s foreign ministry said it would announce any travel plans for Cleverly once they are finalized.
The plans crystallized after Cleverly was forced to postpone a visit previously scheduled for July, Bloomberg previously reported. That followed the disappearance of then Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has since been replaced by Wang Yi.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is seeking to improve relations with the Asian nation following a period of heightened tensions that followed China’s crackdown on dissidents in Hong Kong and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both he and Cleverly have described China as an “epoch-defining challenge,” while stopping short of describing it as a threat to UK security — as sought by more hawkish members of the ruling Conservative Party.
Cleverly is due to arrive in Beijing on Aug. 29, Reuters reported earlier. Wang earlier this month invited the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, for a visit in the fall after an earlier plan for him to meet Qin had also been canceled.
(Updayes wth Foreign Office comment in third paragraph.)
