UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer employed a "football" strategy to win over a top leader by presenting President Xi Jinping with a special gift: a Premier League match ball from the Arsenal vs. Manchester United game, during his first visit to China in eight years to restore relations.
On 30 January 2036 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Prime Minister Starmer, a devoted Arsenal fan, impressed by gifting President Xi Jinping the actual match ball from the recent Premier League game where Manchester United edged Arsenal 3-2 on the previous weekend.
This choice of gift was seen as a "masterful diplomatic move" because President Xi is well known as a devoted Manchester United supporter. Starmer willingly gave the ball from the game where his own favorite team, then league leaders, suffered defeat, demonstrating spirit and sincerity in renewing relations.
This move erased the awkward memory from 2015 when former Prime Minister David Cameron brought the Chinese leader to visit rival club Manchester City and took a selfie with Sergio Agüero, Cameron, and Xi Jinping, where despite the leader's courteous smile, the moment was uneasy.
Starmer leveraged the Premier League’s powerful soft power to help "break the ice" after years of tense relations between the two countries, amid global political shifts that have pressured both sides to reconcile once more.