Enda Brady: UK correspondent on Sir Keir Starmer's meeting with Xi Jinping

Sir Keir Starmer is hopeful the UK's relationship with China will be strengthened off the back of his meeting with Xi Jinping. 

The pair met at the G20 summit - the first time a UK Prime Minister has met with the Chinese President since 2018.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says Starmer's a pragmatist - and will be hoping to strengthen the business relationship between both nations.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the Brady UK correspondent is with us.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello, Inda, Heather Gright to speak to you.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
How did Kia Stama's meet and go with shooting pain.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
I think it's gone very well and it's very significant
because the first time a British Prime minister has met
the Chinese president for five years.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
You have to go back to Theresa May.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
And obviously this is all about growth and the economy
and business and money, and we're limping along here the
last quarter zero point one percent of growth in the
British economy.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's simply not good enough.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Starmer is a pragmatist and he's even said it in
his speech and talking to reporters in Brazil at the
G twenty where this happened, he said he wants a
serious and pragmatic relationship with China. It's all about business
and look, there will be some concerns over human rights
abuses and the treatment of the wigurs in certain regions

(00:50):
of China, but I think Starmar is just going to
pinch his nose on that one and just see if
he can develop relations with China in a way that
no prime minister has.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Cameron, is any part of this designed to kind of
irritate Trump.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
I think it's Trump proofing in a way, as the
phrase I've been hearing around Europe and talking to certain
leaders and politicians and business people the last few weeks.
They're just trying to make sure that they're ready for
whatever happens. And I think the big fear in Europe
is trade tariffs.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
That if he starts whacking on ten and twenty percent
on goods coming from.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Europe, you know, right now would be a very useful
time to be part of the European Union block, twenty
seven nations all pulling together, and the UK, by virtue
of the brilliant idea that Briggs it was, is sitting
on the sidelines, licking its wounds.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
And going nowhere.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
So Starmer has decided that, you know, take positive action,
become friends with g and just see what happens.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
And you know what, it also feels like it might
be done to slightly dissuade Donald Trump from those terraffs,
because what Stam is indicating is that's cool, mate, you
can hit me with the teriff. I'm just going to
pivot this way.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, And I think the big fear for Europe will
be that if China gets hit with tariffs from Trump,
that Europe will get flooded with an awful lot of
even cheaper Chinese goods that they want to offload. Certainly,
the EV vehicle scene is something that is taxing a
lot of brains in the European Union right now. They're very,
very concerned because the Chinese evs are so much cheaper

(02:20):
than anything they're making in Germany right now.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
For example.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
So it's look, it's a fascinating time. Plus Starmer is
no idiot. I think he's really kind of upped his
game and he's realized that how can we grow this
economy with the impact and damage Briggs that has done,
we need the Chinese on board.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Now.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Is it actually true that Mo Farrah had his phone
and then chased the van down?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
It is now. I know Mo and I've trained with him,
believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
I run with him a few times and he's always
messing around with his fitness watch, and so what he
was doing was he was in the street. He lives
in a private, gated community, as you would imagine, one
of the worlds as fast as people and hugely successful,
multi millionaire, double winning gold medalists would be and he
had his phone on the street and he was doing

(03:08):
his exercises directly outside his house and he's running along
and the van pulls in, sees the phone by the pavement,
and a guy jumps out, whips the phone and the
van drives off. But unfortunately for the van driver, he
got outsprinted by Molfara. Mofara caught up with them and
he's the most recognizable sports person in Britain and he

(03:29):
stuck his head in the van window and said, keip
me my phone back now. And of course they couldn't
get out of that. It's a gated community, so there
is an entrance code and CCTV cameras everywhere, and I
think the two idiots in the van thought, you know what,
this is not worth the hassle, so they give mo
Farall back his mobile.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Phone two right into geez is anybody in the world
you don't know. I'm so impressed. Thank you so much.
In Brady, I just trained with my own no big deal.
Into Brady are UK correspondent. For more from Hither Duplessye
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