UK’s Starmer meets Xi Jinping as relations warm
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says "good progress" was made in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping of China. Our China correspondent will give us her assessment. Also on the programme: as President Trump steps up the rhetoric on Iran, what could happen if the US strikes it? And the musical director who stood in for Puccini’s challenging Turandot when the star tenor suddenly fell ill. (Photo: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer shakes hands with President Xi Jinping of China ahead of a bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during his visit to China. Credit: PA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.3 | Hello and welcome to NewsAft from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.6 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:15.8 | And coming up, we'll be hearing from Antarctica, talking to a scientist who's leading a project to drill down about 1,000 metres to the bottom of a vast glacier. |
| 0:26.4 | That's in half an hour. |
| 0:28.0 | Also, we'll be finding out what happens at the opera when your star tenor is taken ill in mid-performance. |
| 0:34.8 | More on that in about 20 minutes. |
| 0:40.1 | But we are going to begin in China. And visit by the British Prime Minister Keir Stama, the first by our UK leader for eight years. |
| 0:45.6 | Today was the most important day of this three-day trip, a meeting between Mr Stama and the Chinese |
| 0:50.4 | leader Xi Jinping. And it can't have been the easiest of encounters. Relations between |
| 0:55.5 | the two countries have been frosty to say the least in recent years, particularly over China's |
| 1:00.9 | crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and because of wider concerns about |
| 1:06.0 | Chinese threats to Britain's national security. Nevertheless, in his opening remarks, President Xi |
| 1:12.2 | had these warm words to say. |
| 1:14.5 | Welcome to China, Prime Minister Stama. You have made public the statement that China |
| 1:21.7 | represents opportunities and that engaging with China is a must, which is truly appreciated. |
| 1:28.0 | China is willing to develop a long-term and stable, comprehensive, strategic partnership with the UK. |
| 1:34.5 | And the positive vibes were echoed by Kirstama after the meeting. |
| 1:39.0 | We had a very good productive session with real concrete outcomes, |
| 1:43.4 | and it was a real strengthening of the relationship. And that's in the |
| 1:48.0 | national interest because, of course, there are huge opportunities here in China. It's the second |
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