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this video is brought to you by nebula
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last week the financial times reported
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that two members of starmer's cabinet UK
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foreign minister David Lamy and Home
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Secretary Vette Cooper had signaled
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their support for China's planning
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application for a massive new Embassy in
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North London nicknam the Chinese super
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embassy it's on the former site of the
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Royal Mint an absolutely enormous
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620,000 Square fet premises in the
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burough of tower hamlets which if it
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goes ahead would become by far China's
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largest diplomatic mission in Europe
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this also came a week after UK
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves traveled to
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Beijing with the delegation of 10
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business Executives to meet with senior
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Chinese officials as part of a reset of
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UK China relations so in this video
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we'll discuss why labor are resetting UK
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China relations the plans for a new
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Chinese super Embassy in London and what
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might happen next
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[Music]
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first though let's start with a recent
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history of UK China relations from the
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start of the 21st century until the late
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2010s the UK had relatively good
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relations with China marked by multiple
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bilateral trade and Military agreements
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arguably the most pro-china figures of
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this period were conservative Prime
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Minister David Cameron and his
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Chancellor George Osborne in 2015
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Osborne ushered in what he said would be
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a golden decade for UK China relations
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and Cameron even had a p down the pub
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with Chinese president Xi Jinping also
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in 2015 the UK became the first G7
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member to sign up to China's competitor
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to the World Bank the Asian
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infrastructure Investment Bank much to
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the discontent of the US whose relations
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with China were becoming increasingly
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Frosty however UK China soon went the
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same way in the mid to late 2010s there
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were increasing reports of Human Rights
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abuses in China particularly towards
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ethnic and religious minority groups
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which horrified much of Western Society
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in the Northwestern region of shin Jang
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which has a large Muslim wer population
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there were shocking reports of forced
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labor religious conversions and even
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detainment camps run by the Chinese
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Communist party or CCP
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around the same time the CCP began
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cracking down on freedoms and democracy
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in Hong Kong a former British colony
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which led to mass protests in 2019 to 20
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and the subsequent migration of hundreds
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of thousands of Hong kongers to the UK
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while conservative prime minister Boris
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Johnson maintained that China was an
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important trade partner and even
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declared himself fervently sign aile
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under Rishi sunak the UK got tougher on
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China forcing China to remove six of its
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diplomats after a peaceful Hong Kong
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protest was attacked by staff outside
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the Chinese Consulate in Manchester
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sunak also declared in 2023 that the UK
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would not return to the close
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relationship pursued by Cameron however
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under the current labor government
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relations seem to be warming again this
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is largely for economic reasons given
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the fact that the UK can no longer rely
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on either the US under Trump or Europe
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post brexit as reliable trade Partners
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but also because labor has historically
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been viewed as less hostile towards
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China than other parties earlier this
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month Reeves traveled to China along
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with a delegation of other senior UK
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business figures including the chair of
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HSBC Mark Tucker the head of the bank of
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England Andrew Bailey and the chief
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executive of the financial conduct
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authority niichel rati to meet with her
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Chinese counterpart Healey Fang as part
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of Labour's pragmatic effort to reset UK
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China relations they reportedly
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discussed proposals drafted by the UK
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for closer cooperation on financial
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regulation and capital markets however
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Reeves was criticized by the
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conservatives and lib Dems for going
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ahead with the trip instead of staying
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in the UK to deal with its pressing
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economic wo and for more on this you
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should check out our other recent videos
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anyway the main issue here is China's
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plans for a massive super Embassy in
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North London this debate goes back to
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2018 when China bought the 2.3 acre plot
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off the Royal Mint for roughly 250
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million or $318 million however the
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plans were dropped after Tower Hamlet's
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Council voted unanimously to block the
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scheme in December 2022 due to four main
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concerns that we've listed on screen now
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relating to local Safety and Security
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issues for context since the plans were
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first proposed they've been staunchly
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opposed by both Tower hamlets locals and
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by minority groups oppressed by the CCP
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but particularly weer Muslims as Tower
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hamlets is the area with the highest
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proportion of Muslim residents in all of
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England and Wales anyway after Tower
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hamlets rejected the plan China appeared
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to let it slide only to revive the
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application after the new labor
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government came in last July just two
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weeks after the general election the
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Chinese government sent a new planning
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application to the council with
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documents published on the council
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website claiming that the council's
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decision to reject the proposal was
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without Merit and had no basis in
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planning policy now here's where labor
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comes in a reuter's report in August
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said that China would miss its deadline
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to appeal instead seeking a promise from
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the UK government to intervene if it
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resubmitted a planning application
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anticipating a tit fortat response from
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Beijing if they didn't Grant permission
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labor seem to have agreed to it and
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that's exactly what's playing out now so
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last week lamian Cooper sent a letter to
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the planning inspectorate for England
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seen by the financial times that said
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London's Metropolitan Police had
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withdrawn their objection to the plans
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saying that there was sufficient space
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for future protests without
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significantly impacting the adjacent
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Road Network they also said they'd ask
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China to change a small element of the
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design and to give up seven other
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diplomatic premises across London so it
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seems to be looking good for the Chinese
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super Embassy but it's not over the line
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just yet the final decision actually
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rests with star's Deputy Prime Minister
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Angela rner as Secretary of State for
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housing communities and local government
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although it will also have to go through
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a public consultation however given
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Labor's warming relations with China
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more generally and the fact that Lamy
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and Cooper have intervened on the
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planning application as China requested
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it looks like the super Embassy will
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ultimately go ahead this could throw up
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a range of issues including most notably
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protests from locals and minority groups
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oppressed by the CCP but it could also
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present a genuine security threat that's
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because in April last year two men were
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charged with spying for China in
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Westminster and there were real concerns
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among human rights activists that the
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CCP could use its super embacy as a base
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to both increase Espionage and
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intimidate Chinese citizens in the UK in
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the past couple of years there've been
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inreasing reports about Chinese
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transnational repression which activists
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fear will only rise if a New London
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super Embassy goes ahead like a lot of
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things this whole situation is very much
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in a state of flux with us entering a
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new year and Trump re-entering the White
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House well the world has felt more
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stable hasn't it every day we're faced
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with weird headlines from Trump's
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attempts to take over Canada and elon's
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wild ride in Europe or even Trump trying
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to swap New Jersey for a shiny Charizard
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on the playground okay that last one
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might not be real but we do dive into
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