The night before, the Chinese leader and the prime minister affirmed that they would meet on Wednesday. The launch of a missile into Poland, which killed two people, prevented Mr. Sunak from meeting with his G7 colleagues.
According to Downing Street, Rishi Sunak’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has been canceled.
On Wednesday morning, UK time, the prime minister was scheduled to meet with Mr. Xi at the G20 conference in Bali, marking the first time in over five years that a British leader would have faced him.
However, the highly anticipated meeting was canceled at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts, a Downing Street spokesman said.
After missiles were fired into Poland on Tuesday night, killing two civilians, an emergency meeting was scheduled for Wednesday morning between the leaders of NATO and the G7 nations.
Since China is not a member of the G7, Mr. Xi was not present at the emergency meeting.
There were reports that the Russians fired the missile into Poland, a NATO member, but US President Joe Biden appeared to imply that the missile may not have originated from Russia.
Urgent inquiries are being conducted to determine who fired it.
The roundtable of like-minded leaders pledged their “full support” for Poland’s investigation, with preliminary US intelligence assessments indicating that Ukrainian forces fired the missile at an incoming Russian one.
Mr. Sunak traveled to the G20 summit on Sunday without confirmation that he would meet Mr. Xi, stating that he was “hopeful” they would meet. On Tuesday evening, however, the bilateral meeting was confirmed, only to be canceled hours later.
Mr. Sunak told that China “represents the greatest direct threat to our economic security” and that his approach to Mr. Xi would be “quite similar to that of our allies, such as the United States and Australia.”
The leaders of the United States and Australia have been more outspoken in their criticism of China than those of the United Kingdom, due to greater direct friction over Taiwan for the United States and the possibility of illicit Chinese political influence in Australia.
Mr. Sunak has been accused by detractors, including members of his party, of softening his rhetoric against China since becoming prime minister. During the summer leadership contest, Mr. Sunak took a stronger posture, referring to Beijing as a “threat” rather than a “challenge.”
At the time, he accused Beijing of “stealing our technology and infiltrating our universities” while “supporting Putin’s fascist invasion of Ukraine”, bullying Taiwan, violating the human rights of the Uyghurs and Hong Kong residents, and suppressing their currency to “continuously rig the global economy in their favor.”
Downing Street emphasized that Mr. Sunak would be “frank” with Mr. Xi and would bring up China’s abysmal human rights record.
That will no longer occur.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the important Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons and member of the China Research Group, lamented the cancellation of Mr. Sunak’s meeting with Mr. Xi.
She stated, “Communication is necessary to avoid miscalculations and is not a sign of weakness.”
“The lack of trust is obvious at the moment; therefore, we needed to meet to establish our positions and provide the groundwork for avoiding miscalculations.”
Mr. Sunak has had one-on-one talks with Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Biden while in Bali.
Wednesday’s scheduled meeting with Fumio Kishida was canceled due to the emergency G7 summit.
Mr. Sunak is scheduled to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Wednesday when he will confirm an agreement allowing 3,000 young professionals from India to work in the United Kingdom for two years, as the United Kingdom continues its efforts to reach a trade agreement with India.
The Prime Minister will also meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
