Beijing's frozen winters are brutal. Frigid winds barrel down from the north, crystallising the city's lakes and rivers in thick sheets of ice, testing even the most hardened souls who dare venture outdoors. Yet something remarkable is thawing in the Chinese capital this winter—a political climate that has been frozen solid for the better part of a decade.
Within the past two months alone, world leaders from France, South Korea, Ireland, Canada and Finland have made the pilgrimage to meet President Xi Jinping. Now, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived to join their ranks, becoming the first British premier to visit China in eight years, bearing gifts of trade ambitions and the hope of economic renewal.
