Jeremy Hunt has made an awkward debut in China by mistakenly referring to his Chinese wife as "Japanese".

The new Foreign Secretary sought to curry favour with his hosts on his first official visit to the country by mentioning his spouse, Lucia Guo.

He might have hoped that his personal connection to China could help forge strong links with the Beijing government, but that was undermined when he got her nationality wrong.

After making the embarrassing gaffe, Mr Hunt quickly acknowledged the "terrible" error.

"My wife is Japanese - my wife is Chinese. That's a terrible mistake to make," he told his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

"My wife is Chinese and my children are half-Chinese and so we have Chinese grandparents who live in Xian and strong family connections in China," he added, referring to the ancient city of Xian in northern China.