The media have decided that today is Prime Minister May’s Big Day. The day she has to re-establish a working relationship with the Chinese leadership, shaken by the peremptory cancellation of the formal signing for Hinkley Point, even as the delegations were gathering to enjoy wine and cake in a celebration marquee. The resultant snub and departure of the Chinese party was at the very least bad manners of a kind more wounding in Chinese culture than our own.
By the same token her decision to arrive at the G20 in flaming communist red was a gesture ignored by western media, but one which will have gone some way to signal to the ultra-sensitive Chinese antennae that Mrs May, if not wanting to kiss and make up to the slobbering level of the departed Osborne, at least wants to move forward in a constructive way. We shall know soon enough whether she has that extra touch of guile which enables her to both say No when she fancies and get a Yes when she wants it.