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
european union leaders have agreed a compromise plan to block more than two thirds of russian oil imports. european council chief charles michel said the deal cut off a huge source of financing for the russian war machine. he added that it put maximum pressure on russia to end the war . european commission president ursula von der leyen praised the deal. i m very glad that the leaders were able to agree in principle on the sanctions package. this is very important, thanks to this council should now be able to finalise a ban on almost 90% of all russian oil imports by the end of the year. joining me now is janet mui, investment director, brewin dolphin. yesterday the oil price was up around $120 a barrel. what will this do to relieve the pressure on the oil price? this will incrementally support the oil prices, of course we also have the story that china is reopening shanghai so that will also put pressures on oil price. i think so far the supply from russia will be diverte