China ‘considering’ sending delegation for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral

The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday said that Beijing is “actively considering” sending a high-level delegation to the funeral of UK’s Queen Elizabeth II next Monday.

Briefing reporters, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said that Beijing will release further details at an appropriate time, South China Morning Post reported.

Many world leaders, including from the Commonwealth nations, have confirmed their presence at the funeral. US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will also make the trip.

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Among the few leaders who did not receive an invitation to attend the funeral are Russian President Vladimir Putin, due to the Ukrainian invasion, and leaders of Belarus and Myanmar, the Press Association news agency reported quoting government sources.

Moscow had confirmed Putin’s absence at the funeral while the Myanmar government has been sanctioned by UK over last year’s coup.

Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences overthe Queen’s death.

According to state media, Xi noted that the Queen was the first British monarch to visit China and “won wide acclaim” during her reign.

“Her death is a great loss to the British people,” he added.

The relations between UK and China have strained lately, especially after Britain joined the US and Australia in the Aukus deal, helping Canberra to acquire nuclear-powered submarines to counter China’s military presence in the Pacific, and also over growing concerns about China’s actions on Taiwan Strait.

The ascension of Liz Truss as the UK’s newprime minister was intensely watched by China as she is known to have a hawkish stance against the Chinese leadership.

(With inputs from agencies)

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