stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing.g a series of charges, including extremism. the case, like others against him on previous occasions, is being seen as overtly politically motivated, as our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. on trial again. the jailed kremlin critic alexei navalny in the dock, in prison. we were allowed into the penal colony to watch, but only on a video screen. he's facing multiple charges, including extremism, that could keep him locked up for decades. on paper, at least, it is a moscow court which is hearing this case, and yet, this trial is taking place here, 150 miles from the russian capital, in a makeshift courtroom, in a penal colony. and that suggests the russian authorities want to limit the publicity that would inevitably come from transporting russia's most high—profile prisoner back to moscow. but the prison picture show didn't last long. the judge decided the trial should be behind closed doors. the press had to leave, and mr navalny�*s parents. his father anatoly�*s reaction... "they

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. public policy in singapore, gave his assessment on the range of topics discussed between us and china in this visit. well, the fact that they are having multiple days of conversation gives you an indication that the number of topics on the agenda is probably quite large. it's quite broad, probably addressing everything from china's issues that they want on the agenda as well as us issues. i think, certainly, taiwan is front and centre on the agenda, something that china now calls the core of their core interest, but of course china is also very interested in getting the us to reconsider some of its economic policies that discriminate against china, some of the export control regimes, the tariffs that have been placed on chinese goods since the trump administration, and of course the us side has its concerns about how it ensures its supply chain resiliency, its concerns about governance in china, things like human rights, as well as how china engaged with united states and its allies,

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing.uan yew school of public policy in singapore, to discuss the stakes. thank you very much forjoining us on the programme. thank you very much for “oining us on the programme._ on the programme. thank you for havin: on the programme. thank you for having me- _ on the programme. thank you for having me- to — on the programme. thank you for having me. to site _ on the programme. thank you for having me. to site say _ on the programme. thank you for having me. to site say they're - having me. to site say they're havin: having me. to site say they're having candid _ having me. to site say they're having candid talks. _ having me. to site say they're having candid talks. what - having me. to site say they're i having candid talks. what exactly having me. to site say they're - having candid talks. what exactly do you think are the top issues they were able to discuss on day one? the fact that were able to discuss on day one? tue: fact that they were able to discuss on day one? tte: fact that t

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing.ged parties during lockdowns. the cabinet minister michael gove has apologised on behalf of the government for a newly—released video. it shows staff from the governing conservative party enjoying drinks and dancing at a christmas gathering at their headquarters in december 2020, when social distancing restrictions were in place. london's metropolitan police service has said it is "considering" the footage. mr gove said the event was "indefensible" and apologised "unreservedly" — as iain watson reports. i think it is sickening and it's appalling, and it is maddening. it is a kick in the teeth. they made a mockery. those three people have something in common. theirfamilies were hard hit by the covid pandemic and they all found it difficult to look in the mirror this morning. the newspaper obtained video footage of this event in the basement of conservative party hq in december 2020, when socialising between different households was banned. they appeared to have missed the social distanc

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing.d in the wake of a trade war and claims over taiwan and the shooting down of alleged chinese on macro over the us earlier this year. but there is also tension over the small island of cuba. beyond the many difficult topics discussed invasion, that is now a new area of contention between the two superpowers, suggestions of a chinese listening station in cuba. so to recap, after initially denying reports of china's intelligence infrastructure on the island, the american said that they were not only aware that they were not only aware that there was espionage infrastructure here, but that they had known about it for some time. the suggestion is that it some time. the suggestion is thatitis some time. the suggestion is that it is based on a sleepy town not far from that it is based on a sleepy town not farfrom here, in the capital, havana. it is well known there has been a military base in the town for many years and recent video shows there is some form of satellite dishes at the base. fo

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing.e with brigadier general david stilwell, former assistant secretary of state for the bureau of east asian and pacific affairs. general, it is great have you on the show. president biden said today he thinks us and china relations are on the right trail after secretary of state blinken met with president xi of china. [30 state blinken met with president xi of china. do you a . ree? president xi of china. do you agree? i _ president xi of china. do you agree? i don't, _ president xi of china. do you agree? i don't, i— president xi of china. do you agree? i don't, ithink- president xi of china. do you agree? i don't, ithink is- president xi of china. do you | agree? i don't, ithink is hard agree? i don't, i think is hard to alibi what happened in beijing. and it is primarily the visual. the words, it is the visual. the words, it is the same anodyne statements that came out of both sides, looking to balance the relationship, but it is the visuals of him coming off the plane and being met b

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. let's speak to lynette 0ng, ?ce at the university of toronto. she is also a senior fellow at the asia society policy institute. thank you forjoining us. clearly this is a very significant milestone given the level of distress there is between the two countries. yes. given the level of distress there is between the two countries. yes, it is a significant _ between the two countries. yes, it is a significant milestone - between the two countries. yes, it is a significant milestone but - between the two countries. yes, it is a significant milestone but i - is a significant milestone but i think we should temper our expectations because there is a great deal of distrust between the two countries right now. the bilateral relations is apparently at a historical low point so i think the expedition overall is fairly low, so as your correspondent said earlier, the visit was derailed by the spy blimp saga earlier this year. the stakes are high but the purposeis year. the stakes are high but the purpose is about dispelling m

stephen mcdonell was there soaking up the atmosphere.as him that brought the crowd to this newly rebuilt stadium. it took only 90 seconds for the player who took his team to world cup glory to score, sending tens of thousands of chinese fans into raptures right around the stadium. there was a sea of blue and white and nearly everybody had "messi" written on the back of their football jumpers, and the chant would go out, "messi, messi," and hardly ever "agenting, agenting", which is chinese for argentina. this was star power — star power marketing in action in a country which is underserved for top—level sport. fans here paid exorbitant rates for their tickets, so did they think it was worth it? translation: it was really exciting. - the ticket was definitely worth the price. this will be messi's last trip to china before he retires. translation: it was a great game. i really loved the first goal by messi. and your favourite player? of course, messi. messi. as for the socceroos, australia's team, they had their chances, and as they took t

meeting president xi , in what's been billed as highly symbolic meeting, as our correspondent stephen mcdonellrnoon. first a handshake, then a meeting which carried great hopes. that collapsing superpower relations could be restored or at least stabilised. at the great hall of the people, china's leader told the us secretary of state they owed it to the world to try and get along. translation: state to state interactions should _ always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. i hope that through this visit, mr secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilising china—us relations. because china—us relations have been so toxic, even modest progress is being celebrated. i would expect additional visits by senior us officials to china over the coming weeks. and we welcome further visits by chinese officials to the united states. their previous cooperation on trade, climate change and cross—border crime has all disappeared because of geopolitical rivalry. most crucially, many military to military communication channels have stopped operating. there have been some near misses as t

bbc china correspondent stephen mcdonell in beijing with all eyes on those talks.you. thank you. for more, i spoke to jacob stokes, senior fellow for the indo—pacific security program at the center for a new american security. how crucial do you think these talks are? i think this is an important trip. as you said, the secretary of state from the united states has not been to china in five years and that is really an extensive period of time for the world's two top superpowers to not have an in—person visit. of course, there have been a number of other exchanges, including with the leaders last fall in person in bali, in indonesia, since then, but given the downturn, the incredible downturn in us—china relations, where the relationship is really the worst it has been in nearly 50 years, it is incredibly important to keep up this type of diplomacy and it will really help for the secretary of state to understand and build more ties between the us and china. how much though do you think that things like the spy balloon saga, for example, also the alleged cuba surveill

our china correspondent stephen mcdonell gave this update about mr blinken�*s meeting with wang yi. is meeting him is, in the chinese system, wang yi is above the foreign minister, like the communist party's foreign minister, if i could put it that way. a very important person for him to meet. i think it will be similar to yesterday, similar themes. really the main goal in this, because expectations are so low, is to re—establish lines of communication between the two superpowers and pave the way for more high—level meetings in future. if they can do those things, both sides will have considered it a success. of course, they are talking about other issues in theory. you mentioned making it easy for people to get visas and the like. so there are other discussions taking place, but in terms of a concrete outcome, for example, qin gang, the foreign minister, has already been invited to washington and said he will go. in their minds, that would be a concrete outcome. as i say, the bar is very low in terms of what they hope to achieve. live now to taipei to speak to emily feng, the inter

live now to our china correspondent in beijing, stephen mcdonell.you've been watching the meetings closely over this whirlwind trip. right now, secretary blinken meeting china's top diplomats. what should we be watching for in those talks?— should we be watching for in those talks? the reason he is meetin: those talks? the reason he is meeting him _ those talks? the reason he is meeting him is, _ those talks? the reason he is meeting him is, in _ those talks? the reason he is meeting him is, in the - those talks? the reason he is| meeting him is, in the chinese system, wang yi is above the foreign minister, like the communist party's foreign minister, if i could put it that way. a very important person for him to meet. i think it will be similar to yesterday, similar themes. it really the main goal in this, because expectations are so low, is to re—establish the lines of communication between the two superpowers and pave the two superpowers and pave the way for more high—level meetings in future. if they can do those things, both sides will have con

stephen mcdonell was there soaking up the atmosphere.na because really it was him that brought the crowd to this newly rebuilt stadium. it took only 90 seconds for the player who took his team to world cup glory to score, sending tens of thousands of chinese fans into raptures. right around the stadium, there was a sea of blue and white, and nearly everybody had messi written on the back of the affable jumpers, and the child would go out, messi, messi! and hardly everthe out, messi, messi! and hardly ever the chinese for argentina. messi! this ever the chinese for argentina. messi! �* , , ., ever the chinese for argentina. messi! a , , messi! as you see, this was the star power _ messi! as you see, this was the star power marketing _ messi! as you see, this was the star power marketing in - messi! as you see, this was the star power marketing in a - star power marketing in a country where fans paid exorbitant rates for their tickets. so did they think of this weather? translation: it was really exciting. the ticket was really exciting. t

our correspondent stephen mcdonell is in beijing and says mr blinken�*s visit is symobolic.that the meeting is even taking place is quite an achievement. i can�*t recall another visit by a us government official which has had such low expectations and yet which is so crucially important. i mean, the relationship is so toxic between beijing and washington. if, at the end of these meetings, at least some new pathways towards communications, at least some new possibilities for more high level meetings, if those types of things can be set up, i think both sides will be happy and think that they�*ve come away with something that it�*s been successful, but it�*s because relations are so bad that nobody expects any sort of a breakthrough on any of the key issues. and if they can just agree to keep talking, well, that�*ll be something. dr yuka kobayashi is a lecturer in china and international politics at the school of oriental and african studies. she says the visit is important. this builds on a couple of developments in the past couple months. i think when the spy incident happen

our china correspondent stephen mcdonell has more on the impact of biden's remarks. now, can btecs?robably october, whether leaders of these two world superpowers can sit down with one another, possibly in california, in october. by then people will have forgotten about this although it will be mentioned in some reports as background i guess so they really have to try to ride this out. if they want to stop this relationship from collapsing any further. but you would love to be a fly on the wall when antony blinken got the news thatjoe biden said this. i mean, surely he would be tearing his hair out, he's got all this trouble had come here to patch things up and just a day later we have this fresh crisis with beijing and washington slinging mud at one another. our top story, the missing sub in the atlantic, the search area has now doubled, it is twice the size of connecticut and there are plenty more updates on that story from all our correspondence on the ground, in boston and stjohn's under other areas. stay with us on bbc news, much more to come. hello. wednesday brought plenty of

meeting president xi, in what's been billed as highly symbolic meeting, as our correspondent stephen mcdonellg superpower relations could be restored or at least stabilised. at the great hall of the people, china's leader told the us secretary of state they owed it to the world to try and get along. translation: state to state interactions should always be on mutual respect and sincerity. i hope that through this visit, mr secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilising china—us relations. because china—us relations have been so toxic, even modest progress is being celebrated. i would expect additional visits by senior us officials to china over the coming weeks. and we welcome further visits by chinese officials to the united states. their previous cooperation on trade, climate change and cross—border crime has all disappeared because of geopolitical rivalry. most crucially, many military to military communication channels have stopped operating. there have been some near misses as the aircraft of china and the us challenge one another in contested waters of the south chi

but for many, it could be a challenging task. 0ur china correspondent stephen mcdonell explains why.ors. this has also become known as the hone to china's tech giants, such as ali baba. there was an expectation that because of that, each years university graduates, a large proportion of them would be soaked up by these tech companies. not only graduates from hangzhou, but all over china. and not only the tech giants, but also little tech start—ups based here. that is no longer the case, the tech companies in china are actually shedding staff. it is the same problem with the property sector. these property companies had been big employers of recent graduates. because of the debt crisis, and the property sector, staff are also being shaded, and not so many people being taken up. the services industry is bouncing back quite well, compared to other parts of the economy, following the covid crisis. it still hasn't completely recovered though, and so what we have is a situation with a record number of university graduates, and many wondering where they're going to go after graduation. the

that was the bbc's stephen mcdonell. - mud at one another. that was the bbc's stephen mcdonell.uing support for the count . .. . . , emphasise continuing support for the count . ~ ., ., , ., ., country. ukrainians are fighting not 'ust for country. ukrainians are fighting not just for their _ country. ukrainians are fighting not just for their serenity _ country. ukrainians are fighting not just for their serenity but _ country. ukrainians are fighting not just for their serenity but we've - just for their serenity but we've also heard it, also for us, for our values, for ourfreedom, for also heard it, also for us, for our values, for our freedom, for our democracies. we can never match their sacrifice but we can and we do all stand united, coordinated and resolute that ukraine must win, will win and has our support.— win and has our support. ahead of the conference _ win and has our support. ahead of the conference today, _ win and has our support. ahead of the conference today, ukraine's i the conference today, ukraine's president has been talking to the bbc about the state of

our reporter stephen mcdonell is in beijing. stephen, how significant is this visit?the relationship from collapsing any further. i mean, i do not recall another visit however from a senior government official which has had such a low expectations in terms of what it may achieve while at the same time being so crucial. the relationship is so toxic between washington and beijing that on the agenda they will be speaking about ways to ensuring that are not accidentally drift into armed conflict. it seems incredible that that would be having this type of discussion in this day and age and at the same time all these other areas, trade problems, sorting out the south china sea, hacking, climate change, you name it, there is all of this material that has to be worked through and yet nobody expects a breakthrough on that. however, when antony blinken meets his counterpart today, when he potentially even meet the leader of china xijinping potentially even meet the leader of china xi jinping tomorrow, potentially even meet the leader of china xijinping tomorrow, that potentiall