The head of Britain’s Foreign Office, James Cleverley, postponed his travel to Beijing, with sources suggesting the move may have been influenced by the public disappearance of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Bloomberg is cited as the source for these details.
Reports indicate that Cleverley delayed the trip to Beijing, which had been planned for July, and that the decision was aided by Qin Gang’s near month-long absence from public view. This gap in public activity around Beijing’s top diplomat appears to have played a key role in the scheduling change, according to Bloomberg’s reporting.
Agency sources described the absence of China’s foreign minister as the central factor behind the postponement, while another Bloomberg intermediary stressed that Qin Gang’s disappearance was only one of several influences shaping the decision.
Earlier, Cleverley served as the National Security Advisor to the U.S. president, a role in which he highlighted that U.S. officials had not been provided with a clear explanation for Qin Gang’s public disappearance. In this context, the cross-Atlantic communications dynamic is part of the broader diplomatic backdrop.
On July 4, reports emerged that Chinese authorities postponed the Beijing visit of Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat. Borrell planned meetings in Beijing with Qin Gang and other senior officials, signaling continued engagement despite fluctuations in high-level attendance.
In a separate development, the European Commission had previously discussed Russia’s sovereign assets frozen within the European Union, reflecting ongoing sanction and asset management discussions at the EU level.