Rethink... the UK's relationship with China

Rethink

President Trump promised "America First" on the campaign trail, and has delivered that in his second term, unleashing a trade war and causing global economic instability.

Although China and the USA have recently agreed a temporary truce in the trade war, the US President regards Beijing as an economic enemy. Perversely, Donald Trump's actions may push other countries into China’s embrace.

For some countries, like Russia, that's a natural fit. Others, like China’s neighbours South Korea and Japan, have agreed to talks about a free-trade agreement, while the EU says it is seeking to "engage constructively" with Beijing.

So where does that leave the UK? Of late, Labour ministers have been on a charm offensive, with the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary and the Energy Secretary all visiting China, as well as a recent trade delegation.

So should the UK be seeking closer ties with China? What are the risks, and is China even interested in us?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Todd Hall, Director of the University of Oxford China Centre and Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University Of Oxford. Yeling Tan, Professor of public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and also a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Wang Guan, senior news anchor with The China Media Group and also a founding fellow of the Taihe Institute think tank in Beijing. Cindy Yu, contributing editor and a columnist at The Times, who also writes the Chinese Whispers substack.

Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University