© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific dire
China's delegate to the meeting, Vice Minister of Science and Technology Wu Zhaohui, was present on Thursday, his ministry said on Friday. China's participation in the second-day ministerial meeting has not been previously reported. Among other reasons speculated was that Britain wanted to present a united front and China did not back Thursday's joint agreement.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chaired Thursday's meeting that comprised"a small group of like-minded senior representatives from governments around the world", Britain said, including the U.S. vice president and the EC president. He did not feature in any public events on the second day, leading one journalist to ask Sunak at a news conference why China had been excluded from the final day.