Rishi Sunak has defied critics within his own party as he defended inviting China to his flagship Artificial Intelligence summit next week.
The prime minister rebuffed those who demanded the country be excluded and insisted there could be “no serious strategy for AI” without one of the world’s leaders in the technology.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of a number of China ‘hawks’ in the party, has accused the government of a stance that “smells of appeasement”.
Mr Sunak also warned of the risks posed by AI – including of terrorists using the technology to make bioweapons and even human extinction.
He said: “I know there are some who will say (China) should have been excluded but there can be no serious strategy for AI without at least trying to engage all of the world’s leading AI powers.
“That might not have been the easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do.”
But he conceded that even though they had accepted the invitation: “I can’t say with 100% certainty that China will be there.”
The summit will take place next week at Bletchley Park, the home of the celebrated Second World War codebreakers.
Earlier, Mr Sunak’s deputy Oliver Dowden had said that ministers would await and see whether Chinese officials actually came to the UK for the meeting.
“It is the case that you wait and see who actually turns up at these events,” he said, although he added: “We do expect them to come.”
Since he became Prime Minister, Mr Sunak has adopted a softer approach to China than his predecessor Liz Truss.
She had been preparing to label Beijing a “threat” to the UK before she was ousted from office. Mr Sunak has instead described China as an “epoch-defining challenge”.