Episode description

China wants to be the superpower of the 21st century, but does it want to provoke war or play peacemaker?

This week the country announced it was increasing military spending, and its newly installed foreign minister warned that if the US did not change course soon, there would be conflict.

But China also recently published a 12-point plan for ending the conflict in Ukraine, despite not condemning Russia’s invasion. Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelenskyy even said he would meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss the plans.

So is this the moment where Beijing asserts itself on the world stage after being locked away during Zero Covid for so long? 

In today’s episode, Kiran Moodley speaks to Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford, about China’s growing frustration with Moscow and the likelihood of a new Cold War.

Producers: Freya Pickford and Alice Wagstaffe