Summary
Will Western economies and companies decouple from China? For decades, the world has relied on this rapidly emerging economy as its factory, producing everything from toilet rolls to iPhones. But post Covid-19, US trade wars and tensions with Hong Kong, is that all about to change? Evan Davis and guests discuss
GUESTS
Liam Casey, CEO and founder, PCH International
Diana Choyleva, chief economist, Enodo Economics
Dr. Yu Jie, senior research fellow, China, Chatham House
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello and welcome to the programme. |
| 0:07.7 | In The Simpsons at one point, Homer Simpson muses on the dangers of drinking. |
| 0:12.4 | Alcohol, he says, the cause of and the solution to all of life's problems. |
| 0:18.3 | Well, political leaders exhibit some of that analysis when it comes to China |
| 0:22.7 | through this pandemic. There is some barely suppressed irritation that the Chinese authorities |
| 0:28.2 | were not more forthcoming about COVID-19 in its early stages. Why did they shut the doctors who |
| 0:33.7 | noticed it up and not warn the world earlier, the charge goes. |
| 0:43.0 | But then, when the disease struck, we were all bemoaning the fact that Chinese manufacturing powerhouse couldn't help more, couldn't keep up with Western demand for PPE and ventilators |
| 0:47.9 | and paracetamol. Well, with tension over the handling of the pandemic, over Hong Kong, distaste over the accretion |
| 0:55.7 | of power about President Xi, it's not just President Trump questioning China's role in the |
| 1:01.3 | world and the global economy at the moment. So as we focus on the aftermath of the pandemic |
| 1:06.6 | in this series of the bottom line today, we're looking at the risks and opportunities of a reset |
| 1:11.2 | in the relationship between China and the West. We'll be weaving between economics and geopolitics |
| 1:17.1 | and basic business logic too. And I have two guests, Dr. Yu, Jir, Senior Research Fellow on China |
| 1:24.6 | at Chatham, the International Affairs think tank, and Deanna |
| 1:28.8 | Shoelever, chief economist at a Nodo economics, an economic and political forecasting company |
| 1:34.4 | that focuses on China. And perhaps, Deanna, you can start us off by just reminding us how |
| 1:40.9 | important China has become in the global economy. |
| 1:55.3 | Hugely, China impacts everything. And in particular since 2001, when it joined the World Trade Organization, |
| 2:04.5 | ever since then, we've had this fundamental clash between two very different systems, the Western free liberal democracies and China's party state amalgamation, hybrid economy made up of market |
| 2:14.4 | forces as well as top-down control. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.