It will mark the first visit of Britain’s top diplomat to Beijing since Jeremy Hunt travelled in July 2018, but the world and the relationship between the two countries has changed dramatically in the intervening five years.

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On the domestic front, the Conservative government has gone through a succession of short-lived leaders and cabinets, left the European Union, and has had to deal with an increasingly vocal and hawkish parliament, which is sceptical of engagement with China.

Cleverly was reportedly set to travel to China in July to meet Qin before the latter suddenly vanished from public view.

“Given both the length of time between the last foreign secretary’s visit, and how dramatically China has changed in those years, Cleverly’s visit will be watched closely. It will be the first time the British government’s new China approach – engage, align, protect – meets reality on the ground in China,” said Sam Hogg, the founder of Beijing to Britain, a weekly intelligence newsletter.

In November, he said the so-called golden era of cooperation between the two countries had ended and that the UK needed to focus on economic security in its relationship with Beijing.

This trip will look to “project a new-found British confidence towards China”, with the Mansion House speech and the recently revamped Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy at the heart of the approach, said Sophia Gaston, head of foreign policy at the think tank Policy Exchange.

“Like all our allies, the UK is now pursuing a policy of stabilisation with China, in which the imposition of significant new security measures and acts of economic competition are balanced with a more restrained form of public rhetoric,” Gaston said.

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“Despite the growing awareness of the profound risks China poses, it is not credible to suggest that the UK should avoid all interaction with Beijing, as this is understood as a necessary precondition to a safer global security environment.”

It is a balance being sought by many European countries. In Brussels, the debate is dominated by the “de-risking” agenda of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who faces a challenge in ensuring that each of the 27 member states’ voices are represented in dealings with China, despite their vastly different views of the world’s second economy.

In Britain, no longer part of the EU debate, a major challenge in forming a coherent strategy is in assuaging the pro-business and China-sceptic wings of the governing Tory Party, said Ruby Osman, China lead at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“The party has the full spectrum of views from China hawks to pro-business MPs, it can be a challenge in making a policy that suits them – more difficult than bridging the gaps with other political parties, like Labour,” said Osman.

Backbench MPs have called for Sunak’s government to take a more aggressive approach, particularly on human rights issues.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Cleverly will push for China to drop sanctions on members of parliament and academics, while he will also be under pressure to raise concerns over freedoms in Hong Kong.

A refresh of Britain’s defence and diplomatic strategy in March described China as an “epoch-defining challenge” to the international order, but did not go as far as describing China as a strategic threat – a move some MPs support.

A long-anticipated report by Parliament’s intelligence and security committee in July found China had successfully penetrated every sector of the British economy, in part because of a willingness by governments to accept Chinese investment “with few questions asked” until recently.

“The UK is now playing catch-up – and the whole of the government has its work cut out to understand and counter China’s ‘whole-of-state’ threat,” the report found.

Cleverly has pushed back against critics, telling the House of Commons foreign affairs committee in June that his job is to “engage foreign governments, including governments we disagree with.”

“We do so to highlight the areas where we disagree, which I have done, whether it be on Xinjiang, Hong Kong or the sanctioning of our parliamentarians. I have raised this issue in every single meeting and conversation that I have had with representatives of the Chinese government, and will continue to do so,” Cleverly said.

“In parliament, critics of the government will view his trip from a starting position of scepticism; many will look to see how forcefully he raises the significant security and human rights issues the Chinese government presents to the UK and its own people,” said Hogg at Beijing to Britain.

Observers urged caution on what could be delivered during a visit that is expect to last for one day beyond setting the tone for future engagement. Nor is it guaranteed that the trip lays the ground for Sunak to go to China.

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“It probably depends how this visit goes,” said Osman. “It would be good to have a leader-to-leader meeting, but given how long it has taken to set up this trip and the fact that we will be in British election season before long, the political heat Sunak would face from going to China at that time might make it unlikely.”

Gaston said that Cleverly’s job in Beijing will be to “establish new parameters of dialogue, in which engagement itself is not used as a bargaining chip against other key issues”.

“The UK government must confidently express the parameters of economic investment and trade that will be acceptable in our new security landscape, and set out its expectations for cooperation around issues such as climate change,” she said.