Sir Keir Starmer is travelling to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping - but has delayed plans to announce China's £1.5billion Highland wind turbine factory.
The prime minister had been expected to use the visit to formally give the green light to the plant which would be China's first in Britian and create as many as 1,500 jobs.
However, The Times reports confirmation of the deal with the Chinese firm Mingyang will now not be announced during the visit, with a decision on whether to approve it to be taken at a later date.
A Downing Street spokesman told The Times it had never been the intention to announce a decision on the project during the trip.
It comes amid warnings over the Mingyang plant's impact on Britain's energy security, with fears it would leave the country vulnerable to and overly reliant on China for the infrastructure needed to drive the energy transition.
Chinese turbines are subsidised by the state and can be as much as 50% cheaper than European manufacturers such as Siemens, Vestas and Orsted which are increasingly reliant on the market in Europe after Donald Trump's decision to halt offshore wind projects in the US.