G20: Xi-Sunak meeting called off due to ‘scheduling issues’

Name: Xi, Biden discuss Taiwan and Xinjiang in first in-person meeting
Uploaded: 2022-11-16T07:41:15.000Z
Duration: 3 min 33 s
Description: Xi, Biden discuss Taiwan and Xinjiang in first in-person meeting

Talks cancelled because of time pressures after today’s ‘snap meeting’ on missiles in Poland, according to tweet from the Guardian’s deputy political editor

The last in-person meeting between the leaders of Britain and China was in February 2018

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives in Bali, Indonesia for the G20 summit on Tuesday. Photo: AP

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Published: 3:41pm, 16 Nov 2022Updated: 9:37pm, 16 Nov 2022

A scheduled meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was called off, prompting questions about ties between the two countries.

Had it occurred, the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit would have been the first in-person bilateral talks between the leaders of the two countries in five years.

A Downing Street spokesperson said on Wednesday that the meeting was cancelled due to “scheduling issues”.

The Guardian’s deputy political editor Jessica Elgot tweeted that the meeting was cancelled “because of time pressures after the snap meeting this morning on the missiles in Poland”.

03:33

Xi, Biden discuss Taiwan and Xinjiang in first in-person meeting

US President Joe Biden held an emergency round table with leaders from Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom on Wednesday morning, after two people were killed in an explosion in Poland near the border with Ukraine.

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