“He never told Xi. This was hugely embarrassing.”

Ms Francis believes the Russian Federation will collapse after the war in Ukraine, allowing China to reclaim land previously under its jurisdiction.

She added: “China is very much involved in what happens to Russia after this is over. Many of us speculate that once the centre doesn’t hold and they lose the war, whoever replaces Putin is not going to be able to hold on to 11 timezones of nation.

“It is just too big a country. At the far-east edge is Manchuria, which was stolen from China over 100 years ago. They want Manchuria back, and they are going to get it.

“The minute there is weakness, they will move. Not necessarily with troops but they will move politically to seize control of it.”