Theresa May sends message on plastic waste with Blue Planet box set for Xi
British leader’s gift includes special message from David Attenborough to the Chinese president
While her predecessor visited China with a gift that was sure to please soccer-mad Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister Theresa May went with something that concerns the planet.
May’s gift – a DVD box set of BBC natural history documentary series Blue Planet II, narrated and presented by David Attenborough – was aimed at highlighting the damage caused by plastics and pollution to the world’s oceans.
The series is popular in China, where millions have watched it online, and around the world, but the box set May gave Xi includes a special message from Attenborough to the Chinese president.
In 2013 when he visited China as UK leader, David Cameron presented Xi with an England shirt, signed by all the players.
May told Xi when they met in Beijing on Thursday that the world had a collective responsibility to do more to tackle plastic waste “on behalf of future generations”. China is the world’s biggest producer of plastic, and plastic waste.