Hello and welcome to World today, I'm Ding Hun in Beijing.
Coming up, Xi Jinping calls on China and Kyrgyzstan to promote high quality belt and road cooperation.
Trump says US is going to take over Gaza Strip in shocking announcement during Netanyahu's visit.
And we are going to get a European perspective regarding a possible U .S.-EU trade war.
Thailand has decided to cut power to memoir border areas linked to scam centers.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has caught on China and Kyrgyzstan to explore new ways of thinking to promote high -quality belt -and -a -road cooperation.
The Chinese leader made the remark in a Wednesday meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadeer Japarov here in Beijing.
Xi Jinping said China is ready to deepen the synergy of development strategies with Kyrgyzstan, and expand the sharing of experience and governance, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and advance the building of a China Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future." President Xi Jinping has also said that China is willing to import more high -quality products from Kyrgyzstan and support Chinese businesses and enterprises in doing business in the Central Asian country.
For his part, Japarov said China is a reliable friend and a partner of his own country, calling on the two sides to work together to promote the construction of the China Kyrgyzstan -Utabakistan railway project.
The Kyrgyz president is currently on a state visit to China.
So joining us now on the line is Zoom Ahmed Akan, research fellow with the Center for China and Globalization.
So thank you very much for joining us today Zoom.
In an interview with Xinhua news agency of China ahead of his stay visit, President Jayaparov said that strengthening ties with China across various sectors is a top priority for Kyrgyzstan's foreign policy.
First of all, what do you make of his comments here?
Thank you for having me.
This really is a historic visit by President Jayaparov.
It's also important to note that in the last few years, consistently there have been high -level presidential -level interactions between China and Kyrgyzstan.
Most notably I would mention May 2023, when the China Central Asia Summit was launched, and then also last year the SEO Summit, where both had a bilateral exchange and discussion and the relations were upgraded to comprehensive strategic partnerships.
So that said, I mean if we follow President Joparov's trajectory as the President, which has been already a few years now, his priority is really to deepen cooperation with China by enabling modernization of Kyrgyzstan along the patterns of what China has followed and successfully so.
Another key factor is also that China is the key investor as well as the key trade destination, export destination, for Kyrgyzstan.
And when we see the bilateral exchanges, they have all been about understanding how Kyrgyzstan can follow modernization, improve the lifestyles of Kyrgyz people, also enable deeper exchanges and synergy within the region, where China is of key importance.
And when it comes to sectors like green agriculture, new energy vehicles, e -commerce, promoting a trade border as well as Kyrgyzstan as a transit route between China towards Europe and within Central Asia, we see that there really is a deep significance that Kyrgyzstan would and does place on deepening cooperation with China.
So we also have great expectations from this visit.
And the last few years are witness.
You know, we can witness the trade relations and overall cooperation deepening.
So why do you think President Xi Jinping is now calling for new ways of thinking regarding Belt and Road cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan?
You know, back in 2015, when the first phase of the Belt and Road kicked off a lot of speculation was about how the BRIs really just trade routes, ports, pipelines, railways, roads, but with time we have seen that the Belt and Road Initiative is much more holistic.
One core example is obviously the global initiatives where we have development, a global security initiative, and global civilizations initiative, which is about much broader, all -encompassing, multifaceted synergy and cooperation between China and partner countries.
Another factor where also Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia overall are important is we saw the multilateralization of the Belt and Road Initiative of 2023, May, when the China Central Asia Summit was officially launched, and we've seen this is going to be a yearly thing, was about how the BRI can not only promote China with other partner countries, but also Chinese investments and development vision to enable strengthen inter -regional cooperation within specific regions.
So I think that's one new way of thinking.
And particularly when it comes to Kyrgyzstan, then we also see the focus on, it's not just about, you know, hard economic cooperation, including that there is also an expectation that China's successful experiences can be utilized as examples, and also improve cooperation in areas such as poverty alleviation, such as improving food security, such as helping countries advance in sustainable development goals of the UN.
These are goals that all countries, especially developing countries, really look forward to achieving and China is an example.
So the new ways of thinking are, in my view, observing the Belt and Road initiative over the last 10 years and more about a more multifaceted perspective, but also about understanding that multilateralism, as well as deeper ways of thinking about cooperation down to the human level our core priority, also between China and Kyrgyzstan.
So, talking about the China Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Railway, this MAGA project is actually many years in the making, and it was officially launched in late December last year.
Now, some optimists say that this railway project could potentially transform east -west the train by cutting delivery times between China and Europe by up to one week.
And what kind of benefits do you expect Kyrgyzstan to gain from this project?
I mean, one of the key focuses is how much what we should remind ourselves is that how much the Central Asian region has transformed due to Chinese investments as if we even go as far back as the early 2000s.
There was a perspective by more dominant Western organizations and banks that investing in regions such as Central Asia and even Pakistan was perhaps not feasible.
But China has proved otherwise.
We see major developments, increasing opportunities, increasing optimism about the future of these economies simply because China was willing and able to invest many years ago because China was able to invest in key sectors that were showing promise.
And we see the positive results of that.
We see exponentially increasing opportunities, trade cooperation, improving lifestyles and the opportunity for more.
That said, I think this railway, because many reports were written about even discouraging Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan from joining this project.
But we see that all three countries countries have now decided to co -invest.
And when you talk about, for example, reducing the time and the period of time as well as the cost of transportation of goods between China and Europe, that has immense benefit for the entire Eurasian continent.
So, I think, I mean, if we think about also the fact that this will become operational national in 2030, we see that there is also existing promise that once we have a major flow of goods, increased opportunities in the meantime, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as other Central Asian countries, also want to continue to improve their manpower, the quality of their labor.
In these meetings, in these interactions, Luban workshop has also come up as a major cooperation, focus to improve the human skills, the technical and vocational skills of Kyrgyz people, all of that can contribute.
And I think we are optimistic will contribute to creating an environment where this rail will not only become feasible, but will create greater opportunities for more such projects in other countries within the region.
So I am personally optimistic not just because we are hoping for the best, but because we see the results and the track record in the last two plus decades of these investments having positive impacts.
So down the road, Zoom, what kind of hurdle do you think should be and need to be tackled and overcome through joint efforts from China and Kyrgyzstan when we talk about the construction of this very railway all -time -way program.
I mean, one thing is that because there is investment, this is a co -finance projects between three governments.
It will obviously be important to ensure that the commitments of all three sides have made are met as expected, and that can, obviously, ensure the smooth construction, completion, and timely progress.
And other factors, obviously, as I said, that the feasibility is something we envision when we say that other aspects of economic and human development will also continue.
And given the pace and the exponential nature of interactions between China, Central Asia, and these countries, also multifaceted approach of the SCO, which is also very important organization that these countries share, I think we can see positive progress on that front.
Another very important factor is that the feasibility of such railways of such transportation corridors is also dependent on positive trade relations and a positive environment.
For that I think it will be essential that Europe which is a possible destination of the goods that can fast through this a transportation corridor, will continue to be pragmatic and continue to recognize that it is beneficial to have open trade relations and a positive approach between the Central Asian region as well as with China.
I think that kind of positive economic environment is essential to ensure the maximum benefits of any such investment project.
The final question before we let you go zoom.
This time around, we have seen China and Kyrgyzstan having signed a joint declaration regarding deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era.
Ultimately, what do you think is bringing China and Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries, closer to each other?
are we talking about some pragmatic and what realistic economic or strategic interests or similar worldviews or something else?
I would say all of the above.
I think countries like my own Pakistan countries like Central Asian countries and so many more have experienced a phase where their perspectives and priorities were not given importance.
They weren't seen as viable investment destinations and in a way just left to struggle on their own.
China's positive approach and China's initiative to invest and have a sense of trust that these countries have the ability to move forward has obviously changed the opportunities available to them and improve the quality of lives that these people from these countries can live.
I think that that perspective of understanding that no country is is in the waiting room of history so to speak and actually every country once you have the right approach, once you have solutions particularly you know suitable to that specific country, then any country can progress.
I think that that's a very important perspective which is pushing many developing countries, many countries of the Asian continent towards deeper cooperation with China.
And of course, I mean, there's something very pragmatic about these collaborations, about the deepening of these relations, because in the end what all countries want is more stability, more improvement in their global standing and to be able to play a better role.
And I think the BRI and these developments like you see between China and Kyrgyzstan are positive examples of what's making all of this possible.
Thank you very much for joining us today.
Zoom Ahmed Akhan, Research Fellow at the Center for China and the Globalization.
Coming up, Donald Trump says the U .S.
will take over Gaza in shock announcement.
Stay tuned. You are listening to World Today, I'm Dean Konig -Baijin.
U .S. President Donald Trump has proposed the taken ownership of the Gaza Strip and re -developing it.
He said the Palestinians will have no choice but to leave their homes.
Trump made these comments after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.
He also said he is not ruling out sending U .S.
troops to support the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
His remark have drawn widespread criticism.
Hamas, for example, has caught his idea a quote -unquote recipe for generating chaos, saying the people of Gaza will not allow for their displacement.
Egypt and Jordan have also rejected the resettlement of Gazians.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has also reaffirmed that it will not have ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established.
So joining us now in a studio is my colleague Zhao Ying.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
So, when we talk about Trump's idea, say, about U .S.
taking ownership of the Gaza Strip, etc., what exactly would that entail, and how realistic do you think it would be for the United States to do so?
Well, essentially he is proposing that the U .S.
assume control over Gaza's reconstruction and its future governance, and this could potentially involve American military forces to secure the territory and oversee the rebuilding process.
And in Trump's vision, Gaza would be developed into a prosperous international zone, potentially as a new economic hub.
But meanwhile, the Palestinians living there would be relocated to other parts of the Middle East.
So on the surface, it sounds like a real estate project, which might have something to do with Trump's real estate background.
But I think it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the region's political, cultural, and religious context.
It's almost as though he's trying to rewrite the map of the Middle East without truly understanding the decades or even centuries of history that has shaped the region because Gaza is not just a piece of land it's home to millions of Palestinians who have deep historical and emotional connections to it and moreover shifting the population around could ignite a far more volatile situation not just in Gaza but across the entire Middle East.
And I believe that is why regional countries, including many of the US allies, have strongly rejected this idea.
So, when we talk about this plan or idea in terms of rejoining the map of the Middle East, is something you mentioned earlier.
Do you think there is any violation of international law here?
And do you think this is marking a departure from Washington's longstanding commencement to a two -state solution?
Well, of course under the international law forcefully transferring or relocating populations is prohibited.
And the fourth Geneva convention clearly outlines the protection of civilian populations in occupied territories, and it strictly forbids the forced displacement of people.
So Trump's proposal to permanently resettle Palestinians is a serious violation of the international law.
and it could involve I mean this this involves of course the forced movement of millions of people against their will right and yes I do believe it represents a significant departure from the US commitment to a two -state solution because his plan would make it impossible for Palestinians to maintain a sovereign contiguous state which has been a key aspiration of the Palestinian people control and a central objective in peace negotiations for decades.
So if Trump moves ahead with this plan, it could have serious implications to future peace efforts and undermine the credibility of America's role as a mediator in peace talks.
And also I think his rhetoric might embolden hardliners on both sides, because for Israel's right -wing government, this could be seen as some kind of endorsement of their own goals to permanently expand settlements and limit Palestinian sovereignty.
And for Palestinians on the other hand, this is, of course, a direct front to their quest for self -determination and a state of their own.
So this risks further escalating the Israeli -Palestinian conflict and push any potential two -state solution further out of reach.
So Trump is insisting that Palestinians will be excited.
be excited, thrilled to leave Gaza and move to homes that are seen to be richer and prosperous.
But how do you think ordinary Palestinians might respond to this suggestion?
I think for ordinary Palestinians, Gaza is a place where they have deep historical, cultural, and emotional ties.
Many families in Gaza are descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled during the wars surrounding the Creation of Israel in 1984.
So for these families, Gaza represents not only their home but also a connection to their past and their heritage.
So suggesting that they would be eager to leave sounds really nonsensical.
It's one thing to want a better life.
is another to be forced out of your home, especially when that home has been a symbol of survival and resistance for so many.
And they are not simply going to move because someone offers them a new home.
This is not a real estate transaction.
And it is about identity, history, and dignity, things that cannot be replaced by moving to another city or another country.
And in fact, the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza have nowhere to go, and they have no desire to uproot their families, especially when they have faced decades of hardship, displacement and violence.
So I think Trump's plan to push people out of their homes creates more anger and violence instead of any kind of peaceful resolution.
Okay. Now it's almost intriguing to note here that actually in the past, Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of U .S.
military intervention in the Middle East.
Why do you think he is proposing intervention on a scale like this?
I mean, this is a scale that's big, to put it simply.
So what might be his motivations behind this shift?
Well, I would say it's a continuation of his America First policy of just that he's now embracing a more aggressive expansionist version of America First.
His comments about Gaza really reminds me of his earlier rhetoric about Greenland, Panama, and Canada as if global territories are just another asset to be bought or reclaimed by the US.
And in his first term, Trump's America First policy seemed more like an isolationist approach approach that focused on reducing U .S.
involvement in overseas conflicts, pulling out of agreements and focusing on domestic priorities.
But his second term is obviously more assertive as he's trying to leverage U .S.
power to take control of resources or literally take over land.
And I feel this is probably driven by Trump's personal history as a developer or his desire for legacy, as well as a world view where power is asserted through control and possession.
Maybe for Donald Trump, global politics is just another terrain to be mastered, just like the Manhattan real estate market that he's familiar with.
Okay I see. So another observation is that Trump's statements about the future of the Gather Strip seems to place the United States as the owner of this very territory, but in the meantime he is also proposing that other countries, nearby regional countries bear the burden of actual resettlement.
So could this be seen as a form of neocolonialism, where the United States is somehow leveraging its power to reshape the region to its own vision?
Well absolutely. If you look at the definition of neo -colonialism, it refers to a form of indirect control, where powerful countries exert influence or domination over weaker countries, often through economic, political or military means, without the need for formal colonization.
In this case, the US, as the global superpower, is repositioning itself as a manager of Gaza's future, with a heavy hand in shaping its destiny and economic infrastructure.
And the proposal also places the burden on neighboring Arab nations like Egypt or Jordan to absorb millions of displaced Palestinians, which also undermines their sovereignty and ability to make independent decisions.
And more importantly, the idea of U .S.
re -engineering Gaza as a prosperous international zone really echoes the way colonial powers used land for economic exploitation without the consent or involvement of the local population.
So I think yes Trump's proposal could certainly be seen as a form of new colonialism Hmm.
So given the overwhelming rejection of Trump's plan by our leaders by regional leaders over there I don't think His agenda maybe let's put it as an agenda or plan or idea is not going to go Well, that's the judgments by many people including we Chinese observers, I guess, but thank you very much That was my colleague Zhao Ying, joining us in our Beijing studio.
If you are listening to World Today, we'll be back after a short break.
world today program you can find in depth and impartial insight as well as critical commentary on key trends in the Chinese economy, financial technology, business and blockchain.
To prepare for the world tomorrow.
Join me on World Today.
You are back with world today, I'm Dean Honey Bajin.
U .S. President Donald Trump is hinting that he will soon announce tariffs on the European Union.
Trump has long criticized the EU countries for not buying enough American cars and farm products.
European leaders warned earlier this week that a trend war was the United States, with destabilized economies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Europe has been preparing for the possibility of a trend war with the United States for months.
Within the European Commission for example a Trump Task Force operated behind the scenes for much of last year, during potential scenarios and potential responses.
So joining us now on our line is Professor Hans -Peter Berkhoff, Chair of the Banking and Finance Department with the University of Hohenheim in Germany.
Thank you for joining us, Professor.
Pleasure to be with you.
So first of all, why do you think the European Union condemned Donald Trump's move after he initially announced tariffs against Canada, Moscow and China, and given the current economic stagnation across some EU countries, can the EU afford to have a trade war with the U .S.
right now? Firstly, I think there are three different reasons on a very different level why European Union is not in favor of this trade conflict with China.
The first one is very easy.
I mean, we've got global supply chain.
And Europe as a big trading nation is always involved, so whatever happens between China and the US also affects European trade and officially leads to lack of efficiency in the global supply chain.
So it's very evident.
Europe will suffer from this trade war indirectly.
We don't like this.
also with Canada with all the other partners, that's a good perspective.
Secondly, I mean, Europe is a trading nation and we are always in favour of fair trade.
Well, what is fair is another issue, and we know we have debate between China and European Union on the issue of what is fair, where we've got different understanding, but nonetheless we think efficiency in the world generally increases with trade and as we are welfare oriented in our democracies, this is a good perspective.
And the third one is clearly trade makes conflicts more costly.
And we live in a world with large looming conflicts.
We've got the aggression of Russia, and Ukraine, we've got really more conflict than we had 10 years ago.
And so maybe from European perspective, it might be important to find more common grounds with the large powers in the world.
And here trade is very important, because it makes it just more expensive for the partners to break up for short term political gain to start a conflict, even a war.
And so we believe that this helps, we're not sure if it still works in this world, as we actually have it, because for sure Russia with the aggression did nothing good for its own economy.
But still, we would love to have this kind of cooperation on the globe.
And trade is one of the basis of this cooperation.
can we afford a trade war with the United States?
Well, what's the alternative?
Just let them have their way.
And this would be economically disadvantageously for Europe as well.
So for sure we must counteract if Trump really starts a trade war with Europe.
So among the 27 EU member countries, Germany is actually ranking at the very top with regard to the amounts of the trade surplus it is running with the United States we know trade surplus or trade imbalance is the top is stopping the minds of Donald Trump so does this mean Germany is going to feel the most pains if Trump goes ahead to impose additional tariffs on the EU well yes if you look at absolute volume because Germany is very strong trading power and United States is a big part nine this has been of the past, and so we might lose by sheer volume most.
However, German trade is still very diversified.
So we can substitute the United States to some degree.
There's some studies on the issue, and the overall effect was not as disastrous as we would expect if you just look at the sheer number of trade we lose.
On the other hand, I mean, the United States is earning a lot of money in Europe and in Germany in particular we service especially digital services so maybe they have a lot to lose as well hmm so in Donald Trump's first term in office between 2017 and 2020 the European Union was one of the US trading partners that were hammered was US tariffs on steel and aluminum at the time the EU responded by targeting US products like a bourbon whiskey motorcycles and blue jeans how would you assess the impact of the us -eu trade conflict back then?
I'd love to give you a straightforward answer but world economics very complex we see some effect for example that there was more production of the respective products in the United States itself so they produce more steel and they produce more aluminium.
But the overall effect is so difficult to evaluate.
Their price increases.
That's the question, for example, what do you do with additional money?
What do the states do with additional money they earn or traverse?
Do they use them efficiently or not?
So it's really hard to say.
And I'd say we have no strong effect of this trade war, unlike it was still limited.
And how should I say the European reaction, remember bourbon, motorcycle, blue jeans, you see this is not a big issue, this is kind of deescalating this war and to some degree European Union succeeded with that.
So I think the effect was not too big.
So, by the way, in a bigger picture sense, how do you think Donald Trump 2 .0 in the office might bring changes to the European Union's mentality or mindset, or thinking about its economic engagement with the rest of the world, I mean, with other countries other than the United States?
I'm for sure this makes trade with other countries more interesting.
However, in the digitized world, this is a problem because many projects contain highly digital components, a lot of digital components and here we've got a problem with data and dependency of the controlling in other countries.
So for example, we have a discussion in Germany at the moment, what do you do with our sun panels producing electricity, are they controlled by China because the IT in it is just controlled by China.
So we have problems with that, somehow the world is cut into two by this kind of safety aspect.
And there's a threat to global integration.
So this makes our system less flexible, it makes it less flexible to react to the threats from the United States, which is not good.
It makes our possibilities to develop more diversified.
And then in the second path we shouldn't keep out of mind.
I mean, Trump is looking for deals, so he's threatening and shows what could happen.
Maybe that's not bad for some countries to realize that all cooperation we have is not guaranteed, but that someone must earn it by getting into trades into fair deals.
We had a large discussion on a free trade agreement with the United States which unlikily failed in 2019, the TTIP story.
And maybe there's a potential to get to a deal where we come back to this.
So this would have absolute opposite effect on that it would increase trade in the long run if we come to such a deal.
And maybe the conditions for this are better today, because European Union, the new Commission has a clear economic agenda, they throw a lot of this ideological, ideological ballast to have in passed away and said, well, no, we must look for growth.
And a deal with the United States might be good, good basis for such a growth strategy.
So maybe we will see surprising developments in this respect.
I wonder, I'm looking forward to this development.
This would be, for the whole world a positive thing, because it would integrate world of trade to a higher degree.
But it would mean that this kind of side effects more trade with other countries outside the United States might Thank you very much for joining us.
Professor Hans -Peter Berckhoff, chair of the banking and finance department with the University of Hohenheim, Germany.
Coming up, China's spring festival holidays spanning have shone strong momentum.
We'll be back. China has recorded nearly 14 .4 million cross -border trips during the spring festival holiday, 6 .3 % more than a year earlier.
Foreigners made 960 ,000 cross -border trips up by nearly 23%.
During the eight -day holiday period, more than 2 .3 billion passenger trips were made across all regions in China.
The Spring Festival film season has also set new records, with box office revenues reaching some 1 .4 billion US dollars.
In the meantime, China's factory activity continued to expand in the past January with the Taishing manufacturing PMI registering 50 .1.
So for more on the Chinese economy, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Chen Jiahe, chief investment officer with Northern Aki Technologies.
So Jiahe, during the China Spring Festival period, we've seen a lot of traveling, a lot of shopping.
So what stood out to you in this year's Spring Festival spending?
And can the consumption trends we see during the Spring Festival tell us a bit more about Chinese consumption going forward?
Well, what surprises me during this Spring Festival has been the strongest of China's consumption reviving.
I mean, I have been visiting quite a lot of cinemas and shopping malls in the city.
And you see quite a lot of people spending their money all around.
I mean, it's even pretty hard to book a cinema ticket during the spring festival.
There are just so many people crowded in the cinemas.
And if you look at the box office, it set its own record in recent days.
So you can see all these consumptions are reviving.
You can see China's government has been doing quite a lot of favorite things to support the consumption, which has really worked.
For example, giving out the consumption coupons which many people used for their dining and shopping and also the coupons for new programs also they reduced the mortgage rate, so your monthly payment for the mortgage has been reduced, which also stimulated consumption.
So all these things have been helped in consumption and you can see a very real Spring Festival in the past few days.
And during the Spring Festival period, China's box office revenue has also set a new record high the film market has shown explosive growth so what has driven it and what does it reflect?
Yeah that's amazing because I have took two films I've been seeing two films during the spring festival what I felt is just as this data has been expressing you know crowds all over the cinema it's really hard for you to get into the cinema and watch a film these days you just fulfilled with people in these theatres and cinemas you know.
So yeah I mean the data has been setting the record and that's basically because a few films setting on the, I think it's four or five of them which has been shown during the Spring Festival have been really amazing.
It's been pretty good films and these films are all these films this time have been the local films the domestic films.
And they are fulfilled with a lot of traditional culture and they also fulfilled with a lot of investment and high -tech knowledge.
I mean, they're really similar to what the Hollywood can produce, or even back into them, because of so much technology they have been throwing in.
And consumers are actually paying for the tickets, which show how interesting they are with these films.
I think this is really a milestone for the development of China's filming industry.
And how do you see the current policies, you know, helping to unlock the consumer potential?
And what additional measures do you think will be needed for this year?
Yes, the reviving of China's consumption in recent days, you know, expressed by this spring festival, is actually a result of the supporting policies that we have been seeing.
I mean, if you read China's policies in the past one year, you'll see so many policies aiming just at stimulating the consumption and nothing else.
For example, I suggest that the mortgage rate has been reduced.
This reduces the financial burden of many people who bear mortgages.
And also a lot of visa -free policies has been set out to countries so visitors can come to China without applying for a visa, and stay here for 30 days.
So it's enough for you to make a trip.
I see so many foreigners in the cinemas these days.
They came over and watched the Chinese films.
So it's quite a lot of policies has been conducted to stimulate the consumption.
I think these policies will continue this year, and it's very possible that we will see a better consumption this year compared with 2024.
Basically because everything is continuing, the policies are continuing, the economic growth is continuing.
and one thing that is stopping to hurt the economy is the property market is stabilized, then we will see a better consumption compared with last year.
And for manufacturing, we've seen China's factory activity continues to expansion in January, and China's Cai Xin manufacturing PMI registered 50 .1 last month.
So, what's your interpretation of China's latest PMI data?
Well, this PMI data tells us that China's industry is still growing, even with an active impact from the property market.
If you look at China's manufacturing, it's actually driven by a few sectors, the export and import, which is the international trade, the property sector, the fixed income investment.
So it's basically these three large sectors, and the property has been posing an active impact in the past two years.
But the global trade and the fixed asset investment has been generating pretty positive impact.
So from this result of the recent PMI and industry growth, what we can see is that the positive impact of China's economic growth.
So it looks like the industry is still pretty strong in China.
If you look at how welcome China's product is and the global market has been, I mean, if you go to the visits of countries like the Middle East, to where one of my friends has just been there, and tells me that you see Chinese products everywhere.
So the welcoming of China's products all over the world really shows us the competitiveness of China's products.
And during the Spring Festival, two Chinese companies caught a lot of attention.
Deep Seek, of course, is one of them.
And another is Chinese robotics company, Yuni Tree has got a huge exposure on the Chinese Spring Festival gala.
they certainly attract a lot of attention, too.
So how much can these high tech companies really contribute to China's economic development?
Well, these two companies, if you look at them, they are actually representing different aspects of the technological industry.
Deep Seek is something relating with more AI stuff, more things like thinking like a human being and constructing articles like a human being.
The robots actually, something like automated factory.
So these two parts actually are different roles of the technology development.
And they are both important to China's growth.
Currently, if you look at China's factories, many of the factories have been transferring from the labor intensive factories to what we call the DAAC factories, which means you don't have to open the lights and the factory operates on its own, which means it uses 100 % of robots.
robots. So these things are really helping China's growth with the industry.
And if you look at the dipshik I'm personally using it as an advanced version of search engine and some people are using it to help them to construct some articles.
It tells you that China's advance in this area is also comparable to what the United States.
If you look at robots, they are really amazing.
I mean, robots can do jobs even better.
I mean, actually, much better than human beings in the factory.
So currently if you look at the path of technological growth, I would say the path of robots is actually much more helpful to China's economy compared with the AI programs at this very moment.
But you can see this kind of robots is another kind of AI.
I mean, they're just the different paths of AI.
But currently, for the industrial growth of China, the robots are much more effective at this moment.
But who knows? I mean, technology is developing every day.
I mean, five years ago, I never saw something like deep -sick can come out.
And on the high -end manufacturing sector, some talk about the policy support, but we also need to look at the company's investment returns.
When they invest in upgrading their factory facilities, they have to look at returns.
So then we will also be looking at the external environment uncertainties, such as the 10 % extra tariffs that Donald Trump put on Chinese exports.
So how much potential do you think is there for China's high -end transformation of the manufacturing industry?
Well, I think China's high -end transformation of the industry is critical to economic growth.
And that's why China is still maintaining a GDP growth of 5%.
And if you look at the labor cost in China right now, it's actually higher than many countries compared with India, Vietnam, these countries.
China got a higher labor cost.
But the reason that why China's products is still so welcomed in the global market is because we have transferred to higher end of manufacturing, is because we didn't stick to the labor intensive industries, which is something.
If you compete with labor intensive industries and companies and you don't transfer to the high -end growth, then you're asking your citizens to bear with low income forever.
That's not the path that China is wanting.
So that's why we are transferring to the high -end manufacturing.
We're using much more automatic factories and robots in the factories.
Currently, this process is still ongoing.
I have been going to quite many factories in China, and I've got friends there, and asked them, how do you produce things now?
How much percentage of robots do you use?
I mean, some say we got a 100 % robot, we don't have to use labor at all.
We just got engineers to maintain this robot.
And some factories, like factories producing furniture, saying that you still have to use like 90 % of human labor to construct these lasered, you know, sofas and stuff like that.
Furnitures like this.
So these factories do have a long way to go to fully transfer themselves into a high -end manufacturer.
And that's something that's driven China's economic growth in the next decade.
Shen Yeah He, chief investment officer with Novantakin Technologies, talking to my colleague Zhao Yang.
You're listening to World Today, we'll be back.
You're listening to World Today, I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
Thailand has cut cross -border electricity supplies to five locations in Myanmar in efforts to stamp out online scam centers.
Scam compounds have mushroomed in Myanmar's Long - template borderlands.
They are run by criminal gangs and stabbed by foreigners, who are trafficked and forced to work.
China has grown increasingly concerned about those centers, as many of the involved victims are Chinese.
And Thailand has blamed those centers for scaring away Chinese tourists.
So joining us now underlying is Professor Ling -Tai Wei from Silka University.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Okay, so Professor Lin Tai Wei, first of all, how would you evaluate the efficacy of Thailand cutting those cross border electricity supplies in terms of stamping out those online scam centers?
Well, I think this is a very concentrated and dedicated efforts by the Thai authorities to smoke out the scam centers and the operators.
It has gotten a lot publicity recently because of some very high -profile issues involving these stand centers, including that of Chinese nationals.
And this has given a dent to that region, which is determined to snuff out this criminality.
And therefore, one of the ways to snuff it out effectively is to cut off electricity supply.
That will cut off the energy that's needed to run the STEM center, whether it's online scanning messaging or the daily operations of those STEM centers.
So, this shows that Thailand has very strong determination to stamp out this stretch.
Okay, now, according to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people have been over the years, trafficked by those criminal gangs and they have been forced to work in those scam centers and other illegal online operations across Southeast Asia, including along the Thai -Mianmara border.
a 2023 UN report estimated that this faster growing operations, those operations were generating billions of dollars annually at the time.
Now, I guess human trafficking when we talk about human trafficking, it is actually not a new problem in that region, right?
But what do you think has paved the way for the emergence and even the mush rooming of these scam centers?
Well indeed this is a some of the phenomenon that has gotten a lot of attention and the one reason why it has managed to work proliferate and even reach a global presence is simply due to a technological advance.
Many of these scam centers now have a very sophisticated computer systems and social media networks that broadcast its messages to New York unsuspecting, whether it's tutorials or job seekers or other ordinary civilians to be enticed by the attractive offers that are actually fake.
And through this sort of intimate reach, it now effectively has a global reach and, therefore, Yes.
Back to the first question about electricity.
That's the power that is needed to, you know, energize these operations, to make it global without power, to not be able to operate these technologies.
Without these technologies, then the scale is much smaller.
And the authorities can get rid of these statistics much more effectively.
This is after all a travesty in our contemporary and modern world, because it is a form of people smuggling.
And it is also a form of modern slavery that has no place in the world today, which we live in.
It's actually wrong morally wrong, as well as legally wrong.
Now, how can regional countries work together to address this very problem from the root?
For example, some people might say One of the root causes of the problem here is the political situation in memoir Do you see it that way?
well, I think this is one of what is often known in international relations or political science as no detriment Issue known that removes in the sense that there's no detriment in countries are collaborating together.
Yeah. And certainly this is an issue that's also called a low -lying fruit.
A low -lying fruit. That is attractive for countries to band together and work together.
A banding together and working together also fosters constructivism and functionalism that can pull countries closer together.
Indeed, in this role, I think China has also played a very prominent role in this.
In high profile, public sides where cases um...
They have captured a lot of these people smuggling scan centers you know individuals, and even in you know similar situations in the Philippines for example where there are illegal online gambling bans and other scams that are going on, China has praised Filipino authorities for cracking it down.
So in this role, even though China is a huge presence in the Indo -Chinese region, meaning the countries plus Thailand, the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, it has produced results and other countries are willing to work with them.
For example, the Thai police certainly reached out to the partners in China to do a joint investigation.
Indeed. Thank you very much for your analysis and for your perspective.
I guess when we talked about China, China, of course, represents a hugely important market for the tourism sector and industry in Thailand, that's for sure.
And I guess moving forward, a lot can be done and needs to be done to restore Chinese average people's confidence about traveling to Thailand as a tourist.
But thank you very much.
That was Professor Ling Taiwei from Soakan University.
That's all the time for this edition of World Today.
To listen to this episode again or to catch upon our previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
I'm Dean Honey Bai Jing.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
