Senior Palace Aide: King Charles Would Carefully Consider a China Visit If the Government Asked
LONDON — King Charles III would think very carefully about visiting China if the British government asked him to go, a senior palace aide has said, according to The Times on November 8. It would be the first state visit to China by a reigning British monarch in 40 years; no request has been made and no visit has been announced.
The aide spoke at the end of the King's tour of the Caribbean. China is a hugely important and very complex country, the aide said, and putting together such a programme would pose a lot of complexity, noting that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the last state visit. In October 1986, Queen Elizabeth II became the first reigning British monarch to visit China, touring for seven days with Prince Philip.
Charles himself has never visited mainland China. He has long held reservations over Tibet and human rights: during President Xi Jinping's 2015 state visit to Britain, Charles, then Prince of Wales, hosted Xi and his wife at Clarence House but did not attend the state banquet at Buckingham Palace. He now acknowledges that his constitutional responsibilities as monarch make his former position untenable.
The Foreign Office said Britain engages China where there are clear UK and global interests and that state visits are undertaken on the advice of the government. The Times understands the government has not requested an invitation for the King to visit China, and a spokesman for Prime Minister Andy Burnham told AFP that questions about the monarch's travel were one for the palace. Palace aides described a clear pattern of the government asking the King to head into politically charged and challenging situations, following his state visit to the United States and his Caribbean tour this year.
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(Source: The Times)
Source: The Times
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：英国国王查尔斯三世资料图（2023年7月，美国联邦政府作品、公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons；本站档案图）。 / Photo: King Charles III in July 2023 (file photo, U.S. federal government work in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; GSM archive).
