The Chancellor Philip Hammond was expected to be on his way to China this weekend to discuss trade. But that trip has been been called off, just days after the Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said he was going to send a warship to the south china sea, where Beijing has been involved in a territorial dispute.

The official line from the treasury is that no trip was ever announced or confirmed. But in a post-Brexit world, trading relationships outside the EU will be ever more crucial.

So what diplomatic eggshells are we potentially treading on?

Chancellor Philip Hammond’s China visit called off