Chinese spying claims in the UK – and beyond
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 April 2024
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
‘In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the cold war, we cannot be complacent,’ Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said at a news briefing alongside Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg during a visit to Poland this week. The PM mentioned the threat from Russia but also from China and pledged to boost defence spending by £75bn over the next six years. Lucy Fisher is joined by colleagues George Parker and Jim Pickard to discuss whether this pledge will lead to deep spending cuts to unprotected government departments and James Kynge, the FT’s China editor, drops in to talk about allegations of Chinese espionage in the UK and beyond. Plus, will Labour’s plan to fully renationalise the UK’s passenger rail network if it wins the next general election translate into better train services for customers?
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Labour plans to retain key private sector role in nationalised railways
Sunak pledge to boost defence spending raises prospect of cuts elsewhere
Former UK parliamentary aide charged with spying for China
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Presented by Lucy Fisher. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer with production help from Leah Quinn. Audio mix and original music by Breen Turner. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The latest episode of the next five podcast is all about health prevention and vaccines. |
| 0:04.0 | Ice speeds Kate Hashi at G.S.K. |
| 0:06.0 | For every dollar invested in improving health, there's an economic return of two to four dollars. |
| 0:11.8 | Murray Aiken at Icubia Institute for Human Data Science. |
| 0:15.2 | The benefits of adult vaccination are compelling. |
| 0:18.3 | And David Sinclair at the International Longivity Center. |
| 0:21.3 | Preventable conditions amongst those aged 50 to 64 in the UK cost |
| 0:25.1 | 27 billion a year. |
| 0:26.8 | Listen to the full episode of the next five, wherever you get your podcasts. A new Cold War and this time it's China versus the West. |
| 0:40.0 | Welcome to Political Fix, your essential insider guide to Westminster from the Financial Times with me Lucy Fisher. |
| 0:47.0 | On the menu today, Chinese espionage in the UK and beyond, PM Rishisunak's defense plans and Labour's pledge to |
| 0:55.2 | re-nationalise rail services. To discuss it all I'm joined in the studio by |
| 0:59.6 | my FD colleagues George Parker, Hi George, |
| 1:02.1 | Hi, D.C, and Jim Picard. |
| 1:04.0 | Hello. |
| 1:05.0 | Hello. |
| 1:06.0 | So before we get on to the claims this week of Chinese spying in the UK. Let's kick off talking |
| 1:15.2 | about Rishi Sunak's big move on defense and Jim you've been traveling with him to |
| 1:20.0 | Warsaw to Berlin and tell us a bit about the trip and what he announced exactly. |
| 1:24.8 | So we flew out from Stanstead on Monday morning. |
| 1:28.2 | We went straight to Warsaw where the Prime Minister stood next to the NATO Secretary General Staltenberg and he announced |
| 1:36.7 | kind of out of the blue that he had a new plan which was the defense spending in the future |
... |
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