Football strategy wins over the leader: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer presented a special gift to President Xi Jinping—a Premier League match ball from Arsenal vs. Manchester United—during his first visit to China in eight years to restore relations.
On 30 Jan 2026 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Prime Minister Starmer, a devoted Arsenal supporter, impressed by gifting the actual match ball from the recent game where Manchester United narrowly defeated Arsenal 3-2 to President Xi Jinping.
This choice of gift is viewed as a "masterful diplomatic move" since President Xi is well known as a Manchester United fan. Starmer willingly gave the ball from the match where his own favored team, then league leaders, suffered defeat, demonstrating spirit and genuine intent to mend relations.
This gesture helps erase the awkward memory from 2015 when former Prime Minister David Cameron took the Chinese leader to rival club Manchester City for a selfie with Sergio Agüero, Cameron, and Xi Jinping—where the Chinese leader smiled politely despite the tense context.
Starmer employed the world's most powerful Premier League soft power as a tool to "break the ice" after years of strained UK-China relations, amid global political shifts pushing both sides back toward cooperation.
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