British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is due to visit China at the end of this month, three sources familiar with the matter said, a long-awaited trip seeking to stabilize a turbulent relationship that has sunk to its lowest point in decades, Ednews informs referring to Reuters.
The foreign ministries of both countries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cleverly was expected in China towards the end of July, but the trip never materialized 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 sources said. The other two sources 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 sources.
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.
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