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Hello and welcome to the programme.

Now, I know that we are naturally all watching Russia very closely at the moment,

but Western nations are not the only ones looking on,

thinking hard about geopolitics, military might,

the relations between the big powers and the economy too.

China is also at a very interesting juncture, and that is the China, by the way, which has an

economy six times the size of Russia's. Now, the economic fallout of the fight between Russia,

Ukraine and the West will have repercussions there, Ukraine and the West, will have repercussions

there and what happens there may have big repercussions for the West. And I should say it wasn't

even going that smoothly in China before Russia invaded Ukraine. So we really thought we might

use the program today to see what is happening in China, and particularly

whether any kind of reset is underway with regard to the economy and China and the rest of the

world. I have three guests with different perspectives. Joining me in the studio is Hongbo,

Professor of Financial Economics at Soaz, University of London, also joined by another academic,

joining us from Oxford, Professor Zhao Lan Fu, Technology and International Development Specialists

at Oxford. And then on the business side, down the line from Eastbourne, Mike Collier,

co-founder of China-UK Trade Consultancy, UKTC, a consultancy helping businesses

source suppliers and set up in China. Welcome all. We need to start with current events,

I think. What is China thinking as it sees sanctions imposed on Russia?

Perhaps start us off Hong on what you think China's observations of this will be?

I'm following the development of the situation, so I'm becoming scared because I'm actually seeing something like decoupling now in terms of the financial system.

...