With genial sunshine in the garden of the official residence and office of UK’s Prime Minister, delicate tea set and refreshments were placed on a rattan-woven small table. In the afternoon of June 17 local time, there was a relatively relaxed arrangement in Premier Li Keqiang’s tight schedule of his visit in the UK. He and his wife Mme. Cheng Hong enjoyed tea and friendship with David Cameron and his wife Mme. Samantha Cameron at No. 10 Downing Street. It manifested charm diplomacy of soft power besides “hard” topics such as international politics and economic and trade cooperation.

China is home to tea while afternoon tea in the UK is also famous worldwide. When Li Keqiang and Cameron were holding a joint press conference, the two Mesdames had already come to the garden, chatting over the “tea cultures” of both countries.

“The tea culture in the UK is simple and less profound than that in China. I myself prefer Chinese jasmine tea,” said Mme. Samantha Cameron, wife of Prime Minister David Cameron. She told Mme. Cheng Hong that she has never been to China but would love to visit. She added, “I hope my children can learn the Chinese language well.”

The two Mesdames also talked about the education in China and the UK. Cheng Hong said that now there are about 130,000 Chinese students majoring in various fields in the UK such as physics, economy and finance, and universities of the two countries have carried out good exchanges and cooperation.

Samantha said that she has heard some of UK’s schools have set up branches in China. Cameron hopes that the two countries can further strengthen educational exchanges, and that more UK schools will open branches in China.

During the talk, Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister David Cameron also came to the garden to join the two Mesdames.

Recalling their meeting in Beijing half a year ago, Li Keqiang said that the renowned British litterateur Samuel Johnson said that “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,” which can be put in another way: “when a man is tired of Old Beijing, he is tired of life.”

Cameron responded with a smile that Beijing boasts unique scenery indeed. He had also been to such places as Chengdu, Hong Kong and Chongqing, and “loved the Chengdu hotpot very much”. During his visit at the end of last year, Cameron indulged himself in the spicy hotpot in Chengdu.

The talk between the Chinese Premier and UK Prime Minister is more like a relaxed chat between friends. Cameron’s three-odd-year-old little daughter Florence Rose Endellion also joined in the tea-time chat. Li Keqiang and Cheng Hong presented Florence a set of panda toys dressed in the form of the 12 animals of the traditional Chinese zodiac, and the lovely toys won the little girl’s great fondness. After knowing that her zodiac sign is the Tiger, she held the panda toy dressed like a tiger in her arms and thanked Li Keqiang and Cheng Hong. Actually, during his visit to the UK three years ago, Li Keqiang also presented newborn Florence a panda toy.

At the previous joint press conference, Cameron said, “during the past three years, Florence has been growing, and the China-UK relations have also been achieving considerable development.”

Li Keqiang also presented a China-made bicycle to Cameron who likes bicycle riding. Cheng Hong presented her translation works to Samantha.

A former diplomat commented that the two couples’ afternoon tea indicates the “establishment of a personal friendship” between Li Keqiang and Cameron, and that the China-UK relations come back to the path of relative ease, cooperation and friendship.