right now, it seems many of those bridges are being burned. would you agree? well, i think it s. yeah, absolutely. we see things have changed a lot in the last five to six years, basically. and a lot of dialogue has been cut off. there s a lot of communications cut off. and most, of course, on top of that, the covid 19 pandemic has also isolated many countries. and also given the, you know, the trade war, the sanctions, the. ..ideological and tax code decoupling and all those things add up. i think that we really need to strengthen the dialogue, strengthen the communication and bridge building. absolutely. i hope we will continue to do that. but in the context that you ve just laid out, everything from protectionism, economic nationalism to the impact of covid around the world, do you think it was wise for china to declare such a complete strategic alliance with vladimir putin, as it turned out, right on the eve of his invasion of ukraine? does that put beijing in a good pl
the head of the agency says he believes russia is strategically reducing supplies now to prevent european countries from stockpiling gas. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. on the eve of russia s february invasion of ukraine, president xi of china and president putin declared their two countries enjoyed a friendship without limits. is that a strategic partnership that beijing may come to regret? my guest is influential chinese think tank founder and sometime government adviser henry wang. from a draconian covid response, to stalling growth, to a western alliance reinvigorated by that ukraine war, are china s vulnerabilities suddenly in sharperfocus? henry wang, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, steve. it s a pleasure to have you on our show. i m mindful that you were the founder, the creator of a think tank, the center for china and globalization. you said you wanted it to be a bridge between east and west. right now, it
to a western alliance reinvigorated by that ukraine war, are china s vulnerabilities suddenly in sharperfocus? henry wang, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, steve. it s a pleasure to have you on our show. i m mindful that you were the founder, the creator of a think tank, the center for china and globalization. you said you wanted it to be a bridge between east and west. right now, it seems many of those bridges are being burned. would you agree? well, i think it s. yeah, absolutely. we see things have changed a lot in the last five to six years, basically. and a lot of dialogue has been cut off. there s a lot of communications cut off. and most, of course, on top of that, the covid 19 pandemic has also isolated many countries. and also given the, you know, the trade war, the sanctions, the. ..ideological and tax code decoupling and all those things add up. i think that we really need to strengthen the dialogue, strengthen the communication and bridge building. absolutely. i ho
western governments, and 39 palestinian prisoners who d been held in israeli prisons. more israeli hostages and palestinian prisoners are expected to be released today. our middle east correspondent yolande knell reports on a rare moment of hope in the conflict. on arrival to celebrate as this is really childrens hospital as some of the free hostages were flown in last night, much to the relief and happiness of a crowd of well wishers. the women and children were said to be physically well. altogether, 13 israelis were released after they spent almost seven weeks being held captive by hamas in gaza. along with 11 foreign workers. earliervideo hamas in gaza. along with 11 foreign workers. earlier video released by the military wing of hamas shows the moment they were taken to vehicles belonging to the international committee of the red cross. these are the youngest of the hostages, aviv, too, and her sister, for , shown in a family video. they were snatched by hamas gunmen