I was very pleased to be able to have an early phone call soon after I took up office as Prime Minister and now the opportunity to meet in person.

Strong UK-China relationship.

It's been six years since the British Prime Minister met with China's premier Xi Jinping.

Might their encounter at this week's G20 lead to a thaw after years of frosty relations

as the world prepares for a possible trade war when Donald Trump returns to the White House. Welcome to Power Play, Politico's weekly podcast where I talk to some of the most influential people on either side of the Atlantic.

I'm Anne McHellboy, if you haven't already, please take a moment to follow this podcast so you don't miss an episode with a guest you might particularly enjoy.

Stronger ties between the UK and China are important for the broader international community.

That's what Kirstama claimed when he met the Chinese president in Brazil this week.

But Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong

and concern over espionage and human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims

have long soured relations with the UK.

Might economic self-interest on both sides, however, now take precedence.

The quiet quads of Oxford University might seem a world apart from high diplomacy on the other side of the globe,

but China's influence in Britain's universities is far from remote, not least for a former senior politician hoping to lead one of the most

powerful centres of learning in the world.

As a former British Foreign Secretary, leader of the Conservative Party and celebrated biographer,

William Haig is frontrunner to become the university's next Chancellor.

Next week, tens of thousands of Oxford alumni and faculty

will decide who becomes the university's titular head, serving a full 10-year term. I met William Hague

in the grounds of his old college, Mordland, where we began our tour of this world-famous institution, can he help

navigate it through battles over free speech, cancel culture, and how to deal with the

threat and promise of Chinese students seeking to attend the university.

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