Rishi Sunak to meet Xi Jinping at G20 summit

Rishi Sunak volition telephone for a "frank and constructive relationship" with China during a gathering with the country's President Xi Jinping astatine the G20 summit.

It is the archetypal clip a UK premier curate has met the Chinese president successful idiosyncratic since 2018.

No 10 said China had "fundamentally antithetic values to ours".

But it said issues similar the Ukraine warfare could not beryllium addressed without "co-ordinated enactment by the world's large economies", including China.

Leaders of the world's biggest economies are gathering successful Bali, Indonesia, to sermon planetary challenges including the economical betterment from the Covid pandemic and the interaction of the Russian penetration of Ukraine.

The premier minister's authoritative spokesperson said the UK authorities was "clear-eyed" successful however it approached its narration with China.

"The challenges posed by China are systemic, they're agelong term, and it's a country... with fundamentally antithetic values to ours," helium said.

"But equally, nary of the issues that we are discussing astatine the G20 - beryllium it the planetary economy, Ukraine, clime change, planetary wellness - nary of them tin beryllium addressed without co-ordinated enactment by the world's large economies and of people that includes China."

Downing Street said the premier curate would "encourage China to usage its spot connected the planetary signifier responsibly to resoluteness geopolitical tensions, guarantee determination stableness and play its portion successful tackling the devastating planetary interaction of the warfare successful Ukraine".

It added that Mr Sunak would accent the UK's nationalist and economical information was a "pre-condition for immoderate UK-China engagement".

"And helium volition underline the value the UK places connected defending quality rights and of speaking retired and taking enactment wherever we person concerns - arsenic we person done implicit Hong Kong and Xinjiang," No 10 said.

Some Conservative MPs person called connected the authorities to instrumentality a tougher stance connected China.

Mr Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss was reportedly readying to re-categorise China arsenic a "threat" to the UK arsenic portion of a overseas argumentation review.

On Tuesday, asked whether helium would bash the same, Mr Sunak told reporters: "I deliberation that China unequivocally poses a systemic menace - well, a systemic situation - to our values and our interests and is undoubtedly the biggest state-based menace to our economical security."

But helium added that it would not beryllium imaginable to resoluteness planetary challenges similar clime alteration oregon the warfare successful Ukraine "without having a dialog with them".

In response, erstwhile Conservative person Sir Iain Duncan Smith, 1 of those sanctioned by China, suggested Mr Sunak was softening connected his erstwhile position.

He told Talk TV: "It's clip to telephone [China] retired arsenic what they are, a threat, but I anticipation [the premier minister's] not astir to bash a U-turn, it would beryllium wholly wrong."

On Tuesday, Mr Sunak volition besides conscionable the leaders of India, Australia and Indonesia, arsenic good arsenic President Biden.

In a gathering with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, helium volition corroborate a caller concern with India, opening successful aboriginal 2023, to springiness young professionals the accidental to enactment successful the different country.

Under the caller scheme, the UK volition connection 3,000 places annually to degree-educated Indian nationals aged 18-30 to unrecorded and enactment successful the UK for up to 2 years.

The strategy would beryllium reciprocal, with the accidental for British nationals to besides enactment successful India.

Mr Sunak said the Indo-Pacific portion was "increasingly important for our information and our prosperity".

The premier minister, whose parents are of Indian root and whose woman was calved successful the country, said: "I cognize first-hand the unthinkable worth of the heavy taste and historical ties we person with India."

The UK is presently negotiating a commercialized woody with India.

Earlier this month, International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch denied talks had stalled aft Home Secretary Suella Braverman's made comments astir Indian migrants successful the UK overstaying visas.

A woody had been expected to beryllium completed by the extremity of October to coincide with Diwali.