Hello and welcome to World Today, I'm Zhao Yang.
Coming up, a ceasefire deal between when Israel and Hamas has come into effect.
But are there still uncertainties in its implementation?
South Korea's impeached President has been officially arrested, triggering riots by his supporters.
How does this reflect the country's deepening political polarization?
China has unveiled a new educational blueprint.
What are the key objectives and how will it reshape the country's education system?
Israel has released 90 Palestinian prisoners as part of the hostages for prisoners' swap deal between Israel and Hamas.
Earlier, three Israeli women arrived back in Israel following their release from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
This came after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect on Sunday.
Under the agreement, Hamas is set to release 33 hostages over the next six weeks, while Israel agreed to release 1 ,900 Palestinians held in the Israeli jails.
China has expressed support for the ceasefire deal and fought for its full implementation to achieve lasting peace in the region.
For more, we are joined by Tim Anderson, Director of the Center for Counter -Hegemonic Studies, a Sydney -based think tank.
Well, the ceasefire deal came after 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
What do you believe were the key factors that led to the agreement of this deal?
Well, apparently, the detail of the deal is precisely the detail of an earlier deal, which was not agreed by the Israelis and by the US.
It seems that Trump made an impression on Netanyahu to force a deal.
Certainly Trump had influence.
What about other international players, the regional players?
What kind of role do you think they have played in facilitating this ceasefire deal?
Well I think Trump was the key one really.
Of course there were mediators, Egyptian and Qatari mediators there.
They have been working for some time on this deal.
But it's been the intransigence of Netanyahu really, and Netanyahu not wanting to be seen to give any sort of moral victory to the Palestinian resistance, which is what's being said now by the Palestinians.
You would have seen substantial celebration on the Gaza side, despite all of the death and destruction in Gaza, but it's seen as a moral victory for the Palestinians.
And Netanyahu doesn't really have much to say, except that some of the prisoners of war have been released.
But they could have been released much earlier.
And many of those who died under the constant Israeli bombing might have been alive now.
So it's hard to say exactly how the Israeli public is going to see this, whether they're going to give much credit to Netanyahu, but certainly the Palestinians have a brief moment of celebration, and of course, a pause in the fighting, but also there's the entry of convoys of aid trucks too, which is a welcome relief for the starving population in Gaza.
OK, so we know the agreement is constructed over three phases that require new negotiations to take place as the sea's fire goes forward.
So how sustainable is this model, especially when both sides may have divergent goals?
Yes, that's right, and the Israelis for their side, they still have their armed forces in Gaza, that has been the sticking point for some time that they want to try and stay there and as they do almost everywhere in their territorial extensions, create what they call a buffer zone.
They want to stay on both the north and the south of Gaza, and perhaps the seaside as well.
And that's not a withdrawal, which the Palestinians have been demanding, basically.
The exchange of prisoners is less complicated that's been agreed.
The terms of that are, as you say, in a staged form that's been agreed.
It was put up before, but now it's been agreed to now and it's begun to happen.
There have been the first exchanges of prisoners going on, but really it's the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza that's going to be the key sticking point.
So, actually, the release of the captives has been one of the primary goals for Israel, but it also kind of contradicts one of the other goals, which is the complete defeat of Hamas.
So, is the Netanyahu government still looking for a total victory over Hamas, as he has promised?
And if so, what uncertainties does that bring to the ceasefire deal?
Well, yes, of course the release of prisoners was accompanied by quite a display.
If you saw the video, the display of Hamas fighters with their green headbands and their weapons around the initial female Israeli prisoners of war that were being released, for example.
So it's almost a celebration of the endurance of Hamas, despite all of the bombing that's been going on in Gaza.
So it's very clear that Hamas has not been defeated.
I think more pragmatic Israelis understood that, but it is embarrassing for Netanyahu.
And of course you will have seen that some of his members of his cabinet have left the government and there's been a lot of scenes of some of the members of parliament in Israel crying and being upset by the fact of the ceasefire and seeing it as a defeat, a moral defeat in many ways of the government.
So it's never been really plausible that they could completely defeat the resistance in Gaza despite all the damage, despite all the bombing of civilians there.
So that's something that the Israelis are going to have to live with.
Yeah, as you said Israel's far right ministers have expressed their dissatisfaction over a deal and some even calling it a victory for terrorism.
How might internal Israeli politics affect the sustainability of this ceasefire?
Well, the Netanyahu coalition government has always been fragile, a fragile one.
And as we know, Netanyahu has also kept the fighting going on in all the fronts, because he's still facing charges, corruption charges in court himself.
So it's a precarious thing, really, Netanyahu's fate and the stability of the government is rather precarious.
And of course, one of the key sticking points had been that the larger parts of the population were concerned that he wasn't doing enough to get the release of the prisoners of war that were taken on October the 7th, 2023.
Now, there's been this exchange, there's some relief, I suppose, amongst some of the people on both sides, because I've got to remember there's large numbers of Palestinian prisoners are being released at the same time.
But it's hard to say what the stability of the Netanyahu government is going to be.
As you say, that some of the members have already withdrawn from the government.
And Donald Trump said the ceasefire deal is a direct result for the Republican victory in the November US elections.
I mean, how do you look at his role in facilitating the deal, and how much influence do you think his administration can exert on his role in the next phase of the deal?
Well, everyone's claiming some credit for it, but certainly the case that Trump had an important role there, it's quite clear that he had some influence on Netanyahu.
Netanyahu thinks that Trump will be an ally of his that remains to be seen.
Trump doesn't really have any clear beliefs but he's a pragmatist and it's possible that he could influence further developments there but it's possible also that the fighting could resume.
So it's not clear, Trump is really a wildcard in many respects.
He certainly has never supported the Palestinians.
I mean, but nevertheless, he looks for pragmatic outcomes, practical deals, you know, so it's possible that he could have some influence on the course of the conflict.
Yeah. And actually, Biden has also held the deal as one of his important foreign policy legacies.
But of course, Donald Trump criticized that maybe the war shouldn't have started in the first place.
So what do you make of the Biden administration's role in facilitating the ceasefire deal or further escalating the war?
Yeah, it's it's much harder to give any credit to Biden because as I said at the beginning This the details of this deal are precisely those that were laid out before agreed to by Hamas I think it was something like eight months ago and then the Biden administration then tried to blame Hamas for not agreeing to the deal and And it fell apart basically, so it's really entirely the same terms of a ceasefire of those which we're agreed to now, which went back down.
And the only different factor really is that the outgoing administration and the incoming Trump administration, the fact that Trump wandered into the fighting as he was being sworn in, basically.
I think everyone was going to accept that Trump had an important influence on Netanyahu here.
So it's much harder for Biden to try and claim some credit.
What do you think the future holds for the Gaza Strip and the broader Israeli -Palestinian conflict if this ceasefire does indeed hold?
Is there any real hope for a permanent peace?
There's not much hope so long as there's not really a serious effort on the Israeli side to address the right of the Palestinians to live in their own land in peace.
There's been a concerted effort to try and drive the Palestinians out of Gaza to colonize greater parts of the West Bank and the Israelis are not really dealing with the reality that's behind this conflict.
So from a historical perspective, how does the ceasefire compare to previous peace attempts in the region?
Well the scale of the death and the deliberate reprisals against civilians is much greater than there's been in previous incursions, you know, we've seen a number of incursions into Gaza by the Israeli military since they withdrew 20 years ago, and this is by far the worst.
But the fact that the armed resistance has persisted, they haven't been able to destroy it, despite all of this, is really a significant blow against the Israeli regime.
They can't destroy the resistance.
States, and at the same time they're unwilling to accept the reality of the right of Palestinian people to live on their own land.
That is Tim Anderson, director of the Center for Counter -Hegemonic Studies at Sydney -based Think Tank.
This is World Today, stay with us.
You're listening to World Today, I'm Zhao Ying.
officials said China achieved its major economic and social development goals for 2024, despite mounting external pressure and domestic difficulties.
The country's gross domestic product grew 5 percent last year to reach a record of more than 130 trillion yuan, or 18 trillion US dollars, meeting the country's annual growth target.
Bi fun has more. According to the officials, China's company witnessed a steady growth and stability with major development targets achieved in the church industry was up by 5 percent.
And officials introduced that in the first quarter China's economy had a good start.
But in the second and third quarter, the government saw challenges and implemented a series of measures to spur the consumption, production and market growth.
So the number shows that economy grew 5 .4 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier in 2020 for the largest expansion since the second quarter of 2023, and high -quality development was advanced in 2024, but according to officials, challenges remained due to the external environment, insufficient domestic demands and the enterprise difficulties in production and operation.
So China will accelerate its efforts to form a new pattern of development to achieve the high -quality development and deepening reform, and opening up and spurnly domestic demands will stabilize market expectations to achieve China's economic recovery and development in 2025.
That was Beman reporting.
For more on China's economy, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Dr. Zhou Mi, senior research fellow with Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
So Dr. Zhou, me, thank you very much for joining us, China's GDP growth 5 % in 2024.
So how do you view China's last year economic performance, and what factors do you think contributed to this growth?
Yes, we know that 5 % is relatively high in numbers compared with the previous several years.
The 5 % is not that easy to be achieved as GDP growth.
So we started to give a goal of 5%, some or just around that member at the beginning of last year.
Finally, we achieved this goal to reach the 5%.
So some people are arguing that the GDP growth is just a number, but in my understanding, it is very important for us to create enough jobs for the people and also create enough output for the related stakeholders.
holders. The factors, I think that included several areas from supply side, we have encouraged a stable improvement of the structure of the economy.
On the demand side, we encourage the consumption and also connect it with many other trading partners.
So all these factors are together to have this outcome.
And we find that the GDP was up 5 .4 % in the fourth quarter of last year.
Why has this happened and how would you evaluate the effectiveness of the policy measures implemented last year?
Well, if you are talking about the last quarter, we know that the policies are really concentrated in those quarters.
We have a package of the policies by different areas, from the fiscal to the monetary policies and even to the foreign trade related policies.
Well, if you're looking also the distribution of the quarters GDP, we can find that at the beginning of this quarter of last year, it is pretty high.
Well continually the second and the third quarter it is growing a little bit lower, but at the end of last year, we still have a pickup of the growth of the GDP.
I think these, all these things are related to some of the factors fluctuated around the world.
We have seen that especially for the last quarter, they are mainly the consumption seasons for the Christmas, for different kind of festivals.
The people are really trying to buy more things.
And from the supply side, I also think that it's also important, we discussed about the policies and the government is trying to support enterprises with even stronger strengths.
So all these factors are together to have a pickup at the end of last year.
And we know that last year, that was a year with a lot of rollout of the policies and what key highlights do you identify in China's macroeconomic landscape for the past year?
Well, we're talking about the policies as I have mentioned, the policies are not just from one area they are combined they are from different aspects so we know that in the past many of the policies of Chinese government are trying to resolve certain problems in the certain areas so it means that all the policies are just to be targeted in certain goals.
But last year, we have seen that the policies are combined and coordinated.
So the government has sent a very clear signal that these policies are trying to be integrated to have some of the impacts on the economic performance and trying to resolve the problems.
On the other hand, I will also see that it is not on the policy strengths.
We are also trying to improve the environment like for the investment environment.
We increase the transparency of the climate for the companies who are going to invest and we reduce their barriers for foreign investors to come to here, to China.
So the certainty of the market development is very, I mean, improved in the last you know, the final quarter of this year.
And it is really important for the stakeholders to have better expectations and more strength.
And we've also seen that December's industrial output exceeded expectations expanding 6 .2 % year -on -year and bringing the overall growth for the whole year of 2024 to 5 .8%.
So how do you see China's industrial output and especially the high -tech manufacturing sector?
Well, we know that the high tech industries are really the emphasis of the Chinese government.
The plants, we are encouraging all the different sectors and different regions to develop their own specific areas of new productive sectors.
So we can see that some of these areas are improved, like for the NEVs and new electric trickle vehicles and also for some of the solar panels and other renewable energies.
And the enterprises are trying to put more, you know, capital and resources in the sectors to encourage, you know, the supply and also benefit our trading partners by experts.
So, all these things are picking up some more strength and it's developing even quicker than the other traditional sectors.
And with the total retail sales of the consumer goods growing by 3 .5 % last year.
What role does the consumption play in driving China's economic growth?
We know the consumption is one of our targets.
It's very important.
If you compare this data of the consumption last year with the GDP growth, you can find that it is still not enough for the consumption.
But we can see that there are some new trend.
The people are going to buy more digital products and they are encouraged to buy those things because we are going to improve the digital economy and the consumption is one of the priorities.
So in the coming year, I mean in the year of 2025, we'll still keep on the track of improving the environment for the conceptions and also to create a better ecosystem because we know that consumption is really the targets for our priorities this year.
And we've seen the sales of household goods have been significantly like growing.
And what do you think are some of the new consumption trends?
Well, we know that real estate is a really important thing for China, because we are seeing that it has connected so many other sectors and industries.
For the real estate, I don't think that it's only our problem of resolving the stock houses.
We're also creating a better – the houses to meet the diversified and the higher end of the demand.
Well, on the other side, I would say it is also important for us to address the problems of the houses for those lower and middle income in the cities.
So we are trying to address these two problems.
I think that after adjustment, the real estate is growing and we can have a better expectation about the future because we are creating more consumption in the different areas, not only the big cities, but also lots of rural cities.
the urbanization rate is going up and we are going to trying to support the real estate with a better and more stable forces.
And on foreign trade, official data shows that the total value of China's foreign trade in 2024 stands at 44 trillion yuan up five percent from a year ago.
So how do you view this performance, and what are some of the structural changes for China's exports?
Well, the foreign trade is one of our advantages for China.
We have reached our 40 .5 % in the total trade around the world.
So actually, it really is good news for us to have better connections with our trading partners, to meet their demands from different aspects.
So the new characteristics still are diversified.
For some of the Belt and Road region countries, we keep on the volume of the trade and we are supporting them with better products.
And for some of the advanced economies, we are going to support them with more of our products, with the higher performance and value added.
So I think that trade innovation and creation of a better space can be expected, because we are not only trying to establish better free trade agreements but also trying to let the people use that.
So in this kind of innovation -driven world, I would say that trade is expected, because China is the main provider of so many products and we are also the main market for so many other agricultural products in the world.
Regarding China's economic outlook, what do you expect for this year, the year 2025?
I think that it is expected to be a better and sustainable development because the policies are accumulated, and we can expect more coordination among the regions for the integration of the domestic market.
We are improving the mechanism like the laws and the regulations to reduce the barriers.
For the openness, I think China stick to openness, and we will keep on doing that to improve the transparency and expectation and stability of the market, which is very crucial for the world.
And there is such a big uncertainty." That is Dr. Joe Mee, Senior Research Fellow with Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, speaking with my colleague, Jiaoyong.
In Mordecombe, South Korea's impeached president has been officially arrested, triggering riots by his supporters.
The EU and Mexico have sealed a trade deal as Donald Trump threatens tariffs.
And China has unveiled a new educational blueprint for a stronger education system by 2035.
You're listening to World Today.
Remind your listeners if you want to hear this episode again or to catch up on previous this episode, just download our podcast by searching World Today, and you can also follow us on Netflix at CGTN Radio.
We'll be back after a short break.
Welcome back. This is World Today, I'm Jai Ying.
South Korean authorities have formerly arrested in peace President 유소우 days after apprehending him in Seoul.
He faces possible imprisonment over his ill -fated declaration of martial law last month.
Yun's arrest could mark the beginning of an extended period in custody, lasting months or more.
The decision to arrest Yun triggered rioting by his supporters, who broke into the court and destroyed doors and windows.
Police have arrested nearly 90 protesters.
For more, we are joined by Dr. Rong Ying, chair professor with the School of International Studies at Sichuan University.
Professor Rang, thanks for joining us.
Thank you for having me again.
So Yeong So -yol has now been formally arrested over his martial law declaration.
What are your thoughts on the court's decision to issue an arrest warrant and how significant is it?
Well, I think the court, the South Western region, court, the decision to officially a sort of arrest for detention of President Yong is certainly based on the consideration, full consideration, of the circumstances.
And also, I think, most importantly, the substance – substantive sort of evidence that supports to the charge that President Yong, by declaring martial law, can be defined as a constitutional act of insurrection.
So it is a kind of fully considered, reviewed decision by the court.
and I think legally speaking, it does the decision does not have any big problem, both in terms of legality and procedure.
Okay and actually the court have deemed you in a threat to destroy evidence, and that is why they granted the arrest warrant and extended the custody period.
I mean how solid do you think the legal case against him is.
Yeah, that's exactly, I think the reasons or the argument that President Young and his legal team tried to make in terms of the VWA decision of the court.
I think the fact that the evidence or the declaration supporting the decision is short by just citing the danger or the possibility that for destruction of evidence is enough legally to support that decision.
But of course, President Yong and his legal team certainly can argue, and as they have always do, like that.
But the other elements related to that is, of course, or contention -related that whether that has been down in a proper way or whether it has been followed, the precedent, or it's a kind of a double standard because there are also arguments that by the legal teams are pretty young, that this is unprecedented and there are other similar cases that should not issued, have not issued a kind of arrest warrant.
But I think it's a simple, purely primarily it's a kind of legal argument.
I think the court made the decision and the decisions made it is, I think now have been followed and been executed.
Yes, as you said, this is unprecedented and Yoon's defense argues that his martial law decree was a legitimate response to legislative print log, do you think there's any merit to his claim or does it set a dangerous precedent also for the executive branch's ability to bypass the legislature?
Yeah this is again I mean one of the contentions between the port and also the legal teams of and young.
I think they have always been sort of defending themselves but for the issue I mean the declaration of martial law.
This is for them. They have argued very resolutely that this is a kind of emergent measures meant to uphold the Constitution.
While, of course, they caught the opposition parties and others, they have defined it as a kind of a riot to violate the constitution.
So it is a kind of, was it a kind of a violation of the constitution, or as a kind of an act of the constitution?
That is, of course, has to be substantiated, supported by the evidence and investigation.
But so far, I think at least the testimony is, the investigation has been sort of received by the relevant officials, military commanders, have supported that.
And even, I think, the—his prime minister, I mean, who was, again, impeached, I mean, served as the acting president after he was step -peached, Prime Minister Han Tom -so said that the martial law was wrong, that it had not followed proper procedures.
And I think, yeah, literally, he's referring to the Cabinet meetings, which has to be, had to be full if that declaration of martial law should be made.
But unfortunately, just President Yong just brought up a few people.
And he was one of them.
He felt very sorry that he was not able to stop the impose announcement and the relevant actions related to martial law.
We have seen the chaos that unfolded outside the Seoul Western District Court, with Yeon supporters storming the building and clashing with police.
What does this tell us about the extreme political polarization in the country?
Yes, that's exactly, I think, the concerns and the worries that has been made and voiced characterized by the follow and by the certainly Korean people and also, I think, the various quarters of works over life.
And now the very fact that the acting President Choi has condemned, and the swift actions has been taken by arresting, detaining these culprits, or suspects, is right decision, right direction.
But unfortunately, I think these supporters of the young, they are very, I think, to some extent, the way that has been violent is a concern.
And given the fact that the The Korean politics has been very polarized, and the ongoing crisis has been jogging on and dragging on for so long, so one cannot rule the possibilities.
Similar incident violence would be happening.
That is what would be a very bad, I think unwanted situation that Korean wanted to have.
So in your view, does this crisis pose a threat to South Korea's democratic institutions, or would you see it as a necessary recalibration of the system?
Yeah. There's been debate and not very large scale quite – I think more and more people are thinking seriously about the possibility of recalibration of the institutions, democratic institutions.
I think there's ample evidence being shown that if you look at the past investment and FARP produce, EU and Mexican negotiators reached an initial deal in 2018 and agreed in 2020 to grant reciprocal market access to each other's tenders for public contracts.
The European Commission says the modernization of the agreement will expand opportunities utilities and services, strengthen supply chains and bolster investment protections.
The bilateral trading relationship is worth more than 100 billion euros a year.
Joining us now in the studio is my colleague, Ding Heng.
So Ding Heng, more specifically, who will be the main beneficiaries of the upgrade of the trade deal between the EU and Mexico?
Well, cars and the spare auto parts are some of the largest export categories from Europe to Moscow.
For example in 2022 Germany alone sold 2 .5 billion euros worth of these products to masculine importers.
So European car exporters are pretty happy because they will qualify for lower tariffs, certain lower tariffs, on the Mexican soil.
EU food exporters are also happy because the deal will remove tariffs that had been as high as 100 % on EU exports of products like cheese, pork, pasta, gems, chocolate, and wine.
EU food exporters are also happy because protection of geographical indications will be expanded to 568 categories or products.
This is something that the EU side very much cares about.
This idea that specifies that only products from a particular from a certain part of a particular country for example can have this name or this particular brand this idea.
Now for Mexico, the deal would granted better market access in European countries for products like orange juice, tuna, asparagus, honey, etc. In the meantime, the deal is reducing maximum import volumes from Mexico to European countries in terms of some sensitive products like beef and ethno.
It will also allow Mexican companies to bid for government contracts in European countries, and EU companies for those in Mexico, including at state level.
So that's the basic idea.
Now when it comes to how EU energy companies will be treated in the Mexican market, previously it had been a stumbling block.
Now there are some renewed momentum in Mexico's energy reform, and that has created a condition for this deal to be concluded now, but I guess ultimately a key request from the EU side won't be granted by the Mexican side.
So why do you think the EU and Mexico are now incentivized to move forward with this upgrade?
Well, I think both sides have fully recognized the benefits of their bilateral free trade Since the original trade deal between the two sides came into force more than two decades ago, their two -way trade has grown at an average annual rate of 7%, between 2013 and 2023.
Exports from the EU to Mexico increased by 107%.
the other way around, there was a 68 % increase in terms of Mexico's exports to European countries.
From the EU perspective, because of the previous NAFTA, as well as the transfer of technology within the North American region, Mexico has become a very important hub for those European auto brands.
In the meantime, the EU views Mexico as a partner for improving the EU's global business competitiveness, not only business competitiveness, as well as, because the EU is also seeing a massacre as a key partner that can somehow reinforce European interests vis -a -vis its Transatlantic alliance with North America.
Then, for Mexico, Europe can help diversify its exports because 80 % of Mexico's exports go to the United States.
In the perception of the massacres, Americans, this over -dependence on the U .S.
market gives the Americans all the power to demand whatever they want.
In the words of some people, there is a near -hegemonic power that the U .S.
is exerting on Mexican exports.
Now, because Donald Trump's return to the White House means a looming threat in terms of those additional American tariffs on both Mexico and Europe, both sides feel a sense of urgency to do something now.
So would you see this as an important political signal in times of increasing protectionism?
Well, I think that's exactly the final point I was trying to make just now.
Nowadays, trade is as political as it is economic.
Actually during the first term of Donald Trump, when negotiators of the EU and the massacre Intel reached an initial deal in 2018 to upgrade their trade arrangement.
A message from them at the time was that they hoped to send a signal to the whole world about the importance of free trade.
Now they are once again sending the same message.
One thing I want to say here is that this battle between forces supporting free trade and those against the free trade, is ongoing and it looks like things are unclear at this point regarding which party, regarding which side will win, will eventually prevail.
Of course, for the EU and the massacre, one thing they can do is to seek unity with other like -minded powers such as China, to endorse free trade on international stage.
So negotiations to upgrade their trade deal were completed in 2020, but ratification has faced some obstacles.
So what do you think are the lessons the two sides need to learn from how this upgrade has been stalled?
Well, of course, looking back, there have been problems from within, like internal opposition, internal reluctance and political setbacks on both sides.
But from the way I see it, the fundamental reason is that between 2020 and 2024, when Donald Trump was not in power in the White House, there was really a lack of a sense of urgency for both sides.
They somehow thought oh somehow things could be as usual, they forgot that Trump is not only Trump himself, he represents a bigger movement in America and elsewhere across the globe actually.
So I guess for countries and the political forces that want to support free trade, there is no time nowadays for complacency.
Okay thank You Ding Hong.
You're listening to World Today stay with us.
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I'm Zhao Yang. China has unveiled a new educational blueprint, vowing to build a stronger system by 2035.
China will gradually expand the scope of free education, increase high -quality undergraduate enrollment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.
China will accelerate the development of advanced research universities and encourage high -level foreign universities in science and engineering to offer programs in China.
China will enhance its capacity to train and attract global talent, expand youth exchanges between China and other countries, and implement international summer school programs.
For more on this document, we are joined by Professor Wang Junxiu from the School of Public Administration at Zhejiang University.
Professor Wang, what do you think are the key objectives of China's newly unveiled educational blueprint?
And how do they align with the country's long -term development goals?
I think education is a very important part of the national socioeconomic development.
And after 70 years of China's educational development since the 1940s, 1950s, now it is a good time to roll out a new plan, a new comprehensive plan to kind of reboot the education to expand and improve the education sector.
So this document as we look at it recovers the old sector of the education from including preschool education including the college education and then life and law learning sector.
So it's intentionally targeting various issues that China faces and various opportunities China faces in the next 20 or 30 years.
As we go on to this discussion, we can point to how different parts of the document relate to China's National Social Economic Development Project.
Let's look at a higher education first.
Just how does China plan to adopt its academic programs to keep pace with the rapidly evolving technologies and global industry demands?
And are there any particular fields within higher education that will be prioritized?
Yes, I think the main goal for the higher education sector is both to expand the size so that they provide more opportunities for people to obtain college -level and even post -college -level education.
And a second to differentiate the higher education sector.
I think they specifically talked about how in terms of university colleges it is categorized into three types.
One is research -oriented university and the second is core application -oriented and the third part, third -kind is core technical location or education colleges and universities so that's a very useful guideline that you need a larger higher education sector but you also need to differentiate.
You will have some international level research - will have a big step to provide vocational, professional trainings to young people.
And then I think this last part is especially important for the next 20 years or so, as China is now the largest manufacturing center of the world economy.
So you need a lot of highly skilled labor force to engage in industrial manufacturing, which are becoming more and more sophisticated in terms of electrical, electronic and computational integration in the manufacturing process.
And notably, China will encourage high -level foreign universities in science and engineering to offer programs in China.
How significant is this move?
Yes, this is important I think in at least two things.
One is that by having high -level prestigious international universities in China, you're bringing talents, you're bringing different perspectives, and then you, especially you can, that can help China integrate with the cutting edge of the global technological and intellectual development.
And then secondly, it is a very important way for China to remain open, to show to the world that China is intellectually open to the global academic community.
So, you will facilitate exchange and communication of not just ideas and academic work, but also people and management in every other aspect.
And considering China's demographic changes such as an aging population and declining birth rates, how does the education system plan to adapt to these shifts?
Yes, this new plan does target these two issues you mentioned.
In terms of the aging population, I think it has a very key emphasis on the expansion and provision of life -long learning programs.
And I know, especially, the new concept of a credit bank.
So basically, you have been an adult after college, or even after you retire officially, you can enroll in academic programs to earn credits.
And then eventually, when you accumulate enough credits, you will get certified to receive a diploma or a certification for your education.
Thank you, Professor Wang.
Unfortunately, we have to wrap up here.
That is Professor Wang Jingshu from the School of Public Administration at Jurjiang University.
And that's all the time we have for this edition of World Today.
I'm Zhao Ying. Thank you so much for listening.
See you next time. You
