British foreign minister Cleverly to visit China to boost ties that have sunk to lowest ebb in decades

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is due to visit China at the end of August, officials familiar with the matter said. The visit to Beijing is a long-awaited trip seeking to stabilise a turbulent relationship between the two countries that has sunk to its lowest point in decades. Britain’s foreign office said it would announce Cleverly’s travel plans “in the usual way”. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond or comment. Cleverly was expected in China towards the end of July, but the trip did not materialize as China announced the unexpected replacement of his counterpart Qin Gang with former Chinese foreign minister and veteran diplomat Wang Yi. Qin went missing for over a month before being replaced on July 25, with the details behind his removal left unclear by the Chinese government. He has not appeared in public since late June. Cleverly is due to land in Beijing on August 29, one of the officials aware of the matter said. Others said the trip was expected around the end of the month, without specifying dates. The trip is only expected to last a couple of days and has been “scaled back from the original plan”, according to one of the officials Cleverly would be the highest-ranking British official to visit China since the pandemic, after relations nosedived over issues including Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong and its treatment of Uyghur Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The UK government has taken a relatively hawkish approach to China, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declaring that Beijing poses the “biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity” in May. Sunak is also under increasing pressure from some lawmakers in his ruling Conservative Party who are seeking to harden London’s policy on China. The UK is also home to large Hong Kong and Uyghur diaspora communities; whose activists are vocal on China’s alleged human rights abuses. After Beijing lifted Covid-19 restrictions earlier this year, a slew of high-ranking European and US officials visited the country, some with great fanfare. A few senior UK government officials have visited China in recent months, but these trips were relatively low-key in comparison.