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Coming up, China and Mozambique have agreed to upgrade their ties.
Japan's Prime Minister makes monetary offering to notorious Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
Carney names a broad team to advise regarding tense U.S.-Canada trade negotiations.
And we're going to explore how city-based amateur soccer games across China are translating into economic activities.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on our previous episodes.
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First up, China and Mozambique have agreed to upgrade their bilateral ties to a community with a shared future and a new era.
The decision follows a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mozambican counterpart, Daniel Chapo, in Beijing.
Xi Jinping said China is willing to work with Mozambique to foster new engines for cooperation in agriculture, new energy, the digital economy and artificial intelligence.
He also said that China stands ready to work with Africa to address the spillover effects of the Middle East war.
Chapo, on his part, says China's major initiatives are helping steer the world in a positive direction, adding that his country is ready to advance cooperation with China in economy and trade agriculture, as well as the energy field.
So for more.
Joining us now on the line is Professor Qu Qiang, fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center with Mingzhu University of China.
So thank you very much for joining us today, Professor Quqiang.
Why do you think agriculture, new energy, the digital economy and artificial intelligence are some of the focal areas of cooperation between China and Mozambique?
I think this area actually reflected the complementary advantages between China and Mozambique and also showing the vision, the visionary thinking of both of our leaders.
I think, number one, you have to understand that Mozambique is an agricultural country.
Even though their technology is currently not very advanced and also the capacity is not sufficient.
But I think that is not a problem because China actually have probably one of the most important and advanced technology in agriculture which can help them with a hybrid rise and help them with the fungus planting.
And all that actually can help Mozambique to be self-sufficient in the food and to achieve their food security.
I think this is very, very important and i think chinese technology can be fully been trusted, because china actually are using their own limited resources to feed 14 billion a population.
So i think that is a golden guarantee.
And secondly, about the renewable energy.
Well, lots of African countries, developing nations, besides having a well-off living standard, they want to have their own modernization.
And China fully understand that, because China used to start it from scratch and you know we experienced that.
You know very arduous, you know fighting paths of ourself, so we always supported, you know, our partner countries to achieve their own modernizations.
But the first thing to start with is that you need to have your own energy.
Mozambique actually is one of the most resourceful country, with water power, solar power, wind power, and that makes them try to become one of the pilot country in the renewable energy.
And china, of course, have so many you know capacities in the solar and wind turbines, so that's the reason why we can work together with each other.
And also, talking about digital economy well, african continent has been evolving really fast.
When you go there, you will find out the 5g network, and digitalization and e-commerce has become the dream of local young people as well, and they've been doing pretty good in this aspect, but they still need, you know, a helping hand.
And last but not least, ai.
Well, when some other country try to weaponize ai, to use ai to monopolize the market, profit China always reaching out to help developing nations, global sales partners, to develop their own large language model.
That's the reason why OpenAI used to close source about their products and to charge very highly about it.
But China, our deep sea, when it comes to the world, we announced open source in the first place.
And that allowed many, helping many global sales countries to have their own AI model because open sourced.
Starting from May, China is going to implement a zero tariff policy for the 53 African countries that have diplomatic ties with Beijing.
How is this going to benefit Mozambique in your opinion?
So this is actually a very banal policy, was of goodwill because China, as we mentioned, we used to be them.
So we understand what it looks like at that moment, and we really want to help.
We call that sympathy.
And also, don't get China wrong.
We are not trying to be a saint or just to try to make us a role model.
To stand on the high ground of the morality.
No, it's not like that.
Well, we always say, if you walk in the shoes of China, if you are a large market, you need lots of the products from some other continent.
That's the reason why we expanded market access.
And when African, especially the Mozambique products can enter China with zero tariff well, you can take it for certain that their export income will increase and that will translate into their foreign exchange income.
They can have more of the uh technologies and products which they cannot buy from some other market, or they can buy but with very, very high cost and also uh, always with lots of the political string to be attached, and that.
So now they can get it from this free trade with China And I think, based on the money, market access, opportunity and technology they can get from this trade partnership.
Next thing they can do is they can multipolarize their industry.
They are not supposed to be only the farmer or fruit planters.
And with all these opportunities, You know, the most young people can come to China.
They can learn e-commerce and they can be the engineer.
They can be the doctors and they can diversify their local economy and restructure the whole country's development.
And that well comes to, you know, what we call job market.
And last but not least, in all that you know jigsaw pieces, you put them together.
Well, become the independence, the true independence, and a self-resilience of Mozambique economy.
And not only for Mozambique, not only to their pistachio cotton, seafood and, you know, raw material, but also to the well-being of Mozambican people and eventually, the well-being of the whole African continent.
We understand.
Daniel Chappell kicked off his China trip in the central province of Hunan, then he went to the northwestern province of Qinghai, before arriving in Beijing.
What do you think the development in Hunan and Qinghai in particular can offer to Mozambique in general?
Well, I'm very familiar with that arrangement because the reason why this shows Hunan is because Hunan is actually the partner province with Africa, with the China African Free Trade Zone.
So their secretariat office is in there, and they have quite a lot of experience in there.
Well, a fun fact is that, even before the nation well, the Chinese government designated Hunan as a partner uh with africa.
Uh, hunan actually have a lot of you know enterprises, a small, medium-sized you know businesses.
They go to africa by themselves to develop lots of business opportunities.
I met engineers, vendors and farmers of Hunan.
They actually go to Africa in the past 40 years.
So the current formalization by the government designation is just the last piece of the picture, but before that, hunan actually have a very long history, you know, partnering with africa.
Now hunan is very advanced, the middle uh china province.
They have, like the sani uh, heavy industry you know, which built the world-class, you know, heavy devices.
And also they have the Zoo Lion and also they have, you know we have, the Hybrid Rise, which is the brand for not only Hunan but also for the whole Chinese aquaculture products.
And we have all kinds of, you know, mechanics, agricultural mechanics.
And that also has been very much welcomed in Africa.
And also Hunan Enterprises has been building a lot of infrastructures in Africa.
So that makes Hunan and Africa's uh, you know, a free trade volume has been growing at double digits.
And also talking about qinghai well, qinghai actually have one of the best and most mature uh, you know, solar and a wind and all that kind of renewable energy.
You know stations and infrastructures which Mozambique really wants to learn from.
And meanwhile, more than that Qinghai, even though it's a Western, you know, faraway province.
But they built their algorithms and computing power centers by using the very affordable, very cheap renewable energy by local wind and solar source.
So that actually can be very attractive for Mozambique, because Mozambique does not only want to be an agriculture country, as I mentioned.
They want to have their renewable energy, they want to have their AI and computing power as well, and the digital economy.
So they want to go to see how a province in China used to lack behind in economy now has become one of the pioneer in the new industry.
That's the reason why I think the president Mozambique went to those two provinces.
In your observation.
In what ways has the US-Israeli war against Iran affected Africa and how can China work with Africa to address the spillover effects of the conflict?
I really hate to see that, but Yes, when the major countries are fighting against each other, some weaker neighbors actually will become the worst victims of all that.
So that's the reason why China always has been advocating that we have to be responsible, big nation, because when you are trying to indulge your temper,
But some other country probably is going to suffer.
But for Africans, you see, a hormones region actually has been – and the choke point really spiked up the oil prices.
In Africa, many of their nations are densely populated, and they will have to import oil.
For an oil like South Africa Zimbabwe, Ethiopia.
Now this high rising oil prices has been giving them lots of pressures, like in airliners, in the public transit and also in people's daily you know use and meanwhile we have to understand the oil is not only for for transportation, but also it's good.
It's very important, the key raw material for the chemistry, especially for the fertilizers.
So that will endanger the food security in africa Because those countenance those countries in that continent is actually facing the biggest threat of the food crisis and the fragility is very high.
And letting alone in a longer term.
You're seeing inflation, you're seeing the higher deficit, you're seeing the instability of a whole society and that really is going to disturb local people's life and that's the reason why china again reaching out with a helping hand.
You know, help them to build more of the solar or wind so that they can, you know, reduce their reliance on the oil, reduce their reliance on this you know conflicting area and meanwhile, for the food security for the, you know, contingent support, financial support.
China are all become the first batch of helpers coming on the road.
But we still want to say We need to calm down and use the diplomatic negotiation to solve all these problems before things get worse and worse.
Okay.
By the way, during his China visit this time, the Mozambican leader has attended an event called the third high-level conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.
We know it's been five years since China proposed its Global Development Initiative.
What do you see could be the significance of this event?
This event is really significant because ever since 2001, it's been the five-year anniversary and more than 130 countries and organizations have been supporting it.
And many of the nations actually have been building these development-oriented central network and many of them are actually in Africa.
So I think in the future we're going to see more of the fund coming from the South-South Corporation Foundation.
To prop up this mechanism, and also the UNDP, the UNFO, they're all going to support those programs and projects.
And under this framework, we're going to see many keystone projects that are going to happen in Africa, like the CDC in Africa, like desalination of water projects in Africa and also many aquaculture related projects, like helping Africa to grow rice and the fungus, and also infrastructures based on the Ruban workshop, and all that will support Africa's well-being.
And the whole globe.
I think this mechanism, you're showing the world that we can use action-oriented policy, not just a talk show, but the action to help people actually, you know, improve their living standard, and that you know if it can work in africa, i think, if they can work many places uh, elsewhere to show the human being, to show the world that we are one community with shared faith.
So it's not just a one road towards a beautiful future, but there are many choices to come.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Professor Qu Qiang, fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center at Minsu University of China.
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China's foreign ministry has reaffirmed the one-China principle following reports that Taiwan leader Lai Qingde has cancelled a visit to Eswatini.
According to Taiwan's DPP authorities, the visit was canceled after some countries denied overflight permission for Lai Qingde's aircraft.
The foreign ministry said all African nations except Eswatini have established diplomatic ties with Beijing and reiterated their commitment to the one-China principle.
And then, in a separate official statement, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office expressed appreciation for the position of those countries in terms of adhering to the one China principle.
So for more.
Joining us now on the line is Dr Yang Xiyu, Senior Research Fellow with the China Institute of International Studies.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Do you think a country that has a normal diplomatic relationship with Beijing is well justified to deny overflight permission for Lighting Does aircraft?
Absolutely, yes.
Simply because Lighting Does trip is designed to separate China against the one China principle.
It's well known, all countries with normalized diplomatic relations with Beijing are adhering on the principle of one China.
Based on the legal and the principle position, they have a right and they are justified to deny any kind of activities which is designed to separate China, which is designed to separate Taiwan from China.
Therefore, some of African countries deny Leicester flights is justified according to the international laws and the rules, and also according to the diplomatic rules.
Taiwan's DPP authorities claim that Beijing had used economic coercion to ensure that Lai Xingde's flight was blocked.
And we have seen a kind of similar rhetoric.
Basically, if we take a look at a social media post by the US House Select Committee on China,
Dr. Yang Xinyu, how would you respond to that claim?
I think that claim is very groundless.
In fact, the decision made by some sovereign countries in Africa that denied their overflight to their country, based on the political consideration, international legal consideration, rather than the so-called economic reason.
So the so-called economic coercion is just an excuse or it's just an unjustified claim against China, against the one China principle, against those sovereign countries that they made the right decision on the Latinx flight?
So I think during the past and nowadays and in the future, I want DPP authorities and some politicians in Washington DC they are eager to damage China's interests always play such rhetorical claims for their political purposes rather than for justice and international rules.
I guess one of the main reasons why Lai Ching De had a planned this visit to Eswatini is that he wants to send this message to the world that Taiwan has a right to engage with the rest of the world diplomatically.
What do you think is fundamentally erroneous about this idea?
I think its idea is groundless and legalist simply because Any part of a sovereign country has no right to engage with diplomatic style.
Taiwan, as a part of China, has no right, has no power to play the so-called diplomatic engagement with the other countries.
That is why some African countries denied their overflights, because the flight is designed to the so-called diplomatic activities.
So in international rules and the laws.
Any part of sovereign countries have no right to have diplomatic engagement.
So Taiwan authorities always try to open a door that really reflects their determination towards the separation of Taiwan from China.
So between Eswatini and the Chinese mainland we know there were some existing economic and commercial ties but there is no official diplomatic relationship between the two sides.
And we know this is a country, a landlocked country, where some 60 of its national population is living in absolute poverty.
What do you think Eswatini is losing due to its lack of diplomatic relationship with Beijing?
I think they're wrong position about the relations with China.
With Beijing have been damaged their own national interests simply because you know a healthy relations between countries should be multidimensional, not only economic, political and cultural and so on.
So when you have a wrong relationship or wrong ties with a great economy, great country China, that will damage their own not only economic interests but also political and cultural and so wide range of interests of their own.
Only when they correct their wrong position and the wrong ties with Taiwan, then they can gain more and more interest by engaging China correctly, rightly.
So therefore, I think the choice right is on the esoteric owner.
Sooner or later, I believe the national interest, the majority peoples of their country, major interest, will push their government to make a right choice on the relationship with China.
So, in other words, it's a matter of when, rather than whether, Aspartini is going to switch its official diplomatic relationship from Taipei to Beijing.
In your opinion,
Yes, of course.
If you look at the past few decades, More and more countries adjust their positions and their choice on China policy from the wrong one to the right one.
That's why the normalized relations with China, the number of countries normalized with China, are increasing.
That's a historical trend driven by the individual countries' interests.
In other words, only when you have a right choice, then you will have the right task to get their own national interests.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Dr. Yang Xinyu, Senior Research Fellow with the China Institute of International Studies.
You're listening to World Today.
I'm Ding Hen in Beijing.
We'll be back after a short break.
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China has condemned Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi for sending a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, calling such actions a blatant provocation against international justice and insult to human conscience.
The notorious Yasukuni Shrine honors 14 convicted Class A Japanese war criminals from the Second World War.
Past visits by Japanese leaders or lawmakers have drawn harsh criticism from neighboring Asian countries.
So for more on this, my colleague Song Ruixin spoke with Dr Liu Kuangyu from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Dr Liu.
Japan's Prime Minister, Sanae Takeuchi, made a monetary offering to Yasukuni Shrine during its Spring Festival, while 126 lawmakers visited in person.
Why are we seeing these gestures at this particular moment, and are they primarily aimed at a domestic audience or an international one?
I think the timing of these visits is no coincidence.
I think it's a calculated political maneuver.
Domestically.
Takayoshi explained this came to her right-wing base, desperately seeking her support to stabilize her administration.
But let's make no mistake, the primary audience I think here right now is international.
By sending this deliberate signal during the Yasukuni Spring Festival to offering the so-called Mazakaki, Japan is testing the waters globally.
I think it's a bit like a brazen attempt to normalize militarism's symbolism and distract from pressing domestic issues such as inflation and racism.
Devastating tariffs imposed by the US.
And also, I think Taka is trying to use this as a cognitive foundation and supporting measure for Japan's subsequent militarism and foreign policy adventure.
And ultimately, I think this is a classical political slate of hand when a government cannot fix its own economy or gain popular because of good governance.
In the long run, I think it might try to resort to like historical nationalism to rally support.
I think, using the ghost of however, using the ghost of war criminals as political props.
I think this is a very dangerous game.
It insults the memory of millions and proves that Japan's right wing is still clinging to a bygone era of aggression.
Okay, so that raises an important question about how these gestures are interpreted.
I see critics argue that Yasukuni visits are not merely about honoring war dead, but about whitewashing Japan's wartime record.
What's your take on that?
I think the whole offering thing has nothing to do, has never been about so-called honoring the dead.
If it were, why specifically choose a shrine dead?
Doubles as a museum glorify aggression.
The Yasukuni shrine is a spiritual home of Japanese militarism.
Visiting it isn't harmless to the tradition.
I think it's an undeniable endorsement of the so-called Yasukuni history and the distorted narrative shamelessly whitewashes invasion as a so-called liberation and paints those aggressors as now victims.
You can see we, actually we can see yasukuni.
They have a, for example, like instagram page and then they post, like those japanese soldiers and japanese generals, their role pictures and describing how they died, how they sacrificed for the, for the country, and describe it like like a very touching story.
They do it every day actually, but it's very interesting that they lock those comments.
They know what people will comment, so they lock the comments.
They don't let people to judge what they're doing.
So you simply cannot just build a peaceful future without idolizing those architects of the past atrocities.
So the victims of, for example, like Nanjing Massacre and countless others who suffer under Japanese aggression and right-wing propaganda, have penetrated the Japanese society over the last eight decades, and especially in the last ten years.
So what is driving this, I think, largely stems from a systemic failure of post-war education.
You know, by framing the defeat merely as a so-called end to the war, which is very neutral, it sounds rather than a righteous defeat of aggression.
Japan has avoided a true moral reckoning.
Decades of revisionist, like you said, the test booths have essentially gaslit the younger generations into viewing Japan solely as a victim of the war, conveniently ignoring the immense suffering inflicted on its neighbors.
So this has particularly forced the so-called cyber populist generation right now in Japan, who are the younger generations, like the JZ and and ages around this generation.
They are inherently opposed to the so-called political correctness.
They're indoctrinated by a feverish ethno-selfishness.
So deep down they are aware of Japan's status as a perpetrator, yet they feel compelled to deny and whitewash this history for their own interest.
So they persist to infect the relatively moderate ordinary citizens like the middle class, the middle group, who merely just wish for a stronger Japan.
And together they form, they constitute this 70 public support base for Takahashi.
Like what I said,
So, when a significant proportion of the public fails to recognize the Yasukuni Shrine for what it truly is, as what I said, it could be a monument to militarism.
Now this proves that historical revisionism has successfully taken root in Japan's society very deep.
So this societal blind spot is incredibly dangerous and it provides the perfect fertile ground for politicians like to push their new militaristic agendas, and completely unchallenged by voters, who know better and who should take and balance.
Okay, like you said, it is alarming.
And we continue to see politicians making how they make this visit.
Yasukuni Shrine honors 14 convicted class A war criminals.
For decades, visits and offerings have hurt relations with its neighbors like China, South Korea and other nations brutalized during Japan's wartime aggression.
But then Japanese politicians continue to make offerings and visits to Yasukuni.
Why do they persist despite the diplomatic costs?
Yes, I think this persistence of these visits boils down to one thing the raw political expediency trumping international diplomacy.
For Japanese politicians, The Yasukuni Shrine is simply a convenient tool to pander the radical right-wing factions that dominate parts of their political landscape.
And they calculate that the domestic political Capital gain from the piecing those hardliners outweighs the diplomatic backlash from China, from South Korea, from Korea and another victimized nations and all other just loving people in the international society.
So this is a cynical, short-sighted calculus.
By refusing to draw a clear line between themselves and the war criminals of the past, these politicians are actually choosing to alienate their neighbors.
And every time a leader like Takeuchi makes an offering, I think she isn't just paying respects to the dead.
She's digging a deeper trench between Japan and their neighbors and the international community.
I think she's signaling that Japan has not truly regretted its history, and stubbornness ensures that genuine long-term trust in Northeast Asia remains permanently out of reach.
Dr. Liu Kuangyu from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences talking with my colleague Song Ruixin.
This is World Today.
We'll be back.
You're listening to World Today.
I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has announced a 24-people advisory committee on economic ties with the United States.
The announcement comes as Ottawa is bracing for trade negotiations with Washington.
The Council is going to meet for the first time on April 27th.
Only four people are retained from the previous generation of Council assembled by former Canadian leader Justin Trudeau.
A review of the current version of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
It's scheduled for July.
So for more.
Joining us now on the line is Professor Jiang Gong from the University of International Business and Economics.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Great pleasure.
So, as I said earlier, only four people are retained from the previous generation of Council, and this is a 24-people committee.
What do you think this tells us about Prime Minister Mark Carney's approach to US trade compared to that of his predecessors?
Well, I think it's not abnormal to have a very large reshuffle of this advisory board.
You have a new administration coming in and it's quite natural to replace a lot of these members in this panel.
Nevertheless, I think probably what's more significant here is that such a large reshuffle indicates that probably the entire negotiation, the entire relationship between the two countries is going to be stored for a reset.
From Canadians' perspective,
I think the Canadian side is preparing something.
Preparing for the worst is going to be a very tough negotiation, if it goes anywhere.
And I think Prime Minister Carney is also preparing for the worst.
It may not even go to agreement at all.
It's quite likely that that's going to happen, I think, if it doesn't work out well.
So, by the way, Professor Zhang Gong, in your observation, what do you make of the possible thorny issues in this forthcoming review of the current North America free trade deal?
Well, I think it's sort of a a mixed combination of a bit of politics political issues but also of economic issues.
Let me first talk about a political issue here.
I think at a very fundamental level, the United States wants to have a reset of its relationship with its allies.
Trump administration thinks that the United States has been taken advantage by these allies for a long time.
So it starts to have a policy adjustment.
And Mark Carney's quite famous speech at Davos Light Time probably really furies President Trump.
You know, he was talking about The middle powers charting a new road for the United States.
They're calling for more cooperation among the middle powers, things like that.
So I think, you know, from a political point of view, the relationship is quite rocky at this point.
Now, on top of this, of course, there's the longstanding economic issues here.
President Trump thinks that most of the stuff Canada exports to the United States are things that the United States can produce itself.
It doesn't want a lot of these products coming from Canada.
A perfect example is lumber.
You know, lumber is a major commodity that has been used a lot in the housing construction industry.
You know, these 2x4, 2x6 dimensional lumber.
Canada due to its you know land being public land and the government doesn't impose any taxes and any fees on this land land the lumber is relatively quite cheap and competitive.
So you know a lot of my understanding is a lot of the dimensional lumber used on the East Coast are actually coming from Canada.
President Trump thinks that, you know, the United States produces a lot of lumber itself in the instead of Washington, instead of Oregon, for example.
So you don't need Canada from Trump's perspective.
So these are the thorny issues, in my view.
In other words, from a fundamental economic perspective, Canada is a resource-exporting country and exporting a lot of raw materials.
Lumber, steel, aluminum, oil as well.
And all of these things, President Trump thinks the United States can produce itself.
So there's a lack of a complementarity here from a trade perspective.
I take your point.
I mean the current version of the North American Free Trade Agreement was actually negotiated during the first term of President Donald Trump right.
Do you find it a little bizarre that when we see the Trump administration 20, including its cabinet officials calling it a bad deal?
Well, I think it's an entirely change of perspective.
I think the fundamental relationship has changed.
Looking back, President Trump doesn't think that this deal is very good from America's perspective.
It's called a USMCA, actually.
And now, you know, it's America first.
A lot of indigenous productions.
And he famously imposed tariffs not just on China but on a range of countries, a lot of countries.
Canada, of course, is included.
So he's using this as an excuse.
I'm saying that he's using the idea that it's a bad deal for his first administration as an excuse.
And he wants to do something quite different.
And I think there's a real likelihood that there may not be an agreement at all, actually.
And President Trump might impose something very high tariffs as a result.
Carney hopes that his government's trade negotiations with the United States can be based on the best advice, etc.
Realistically, what leverage is Canada holding?
Canada doesn't hold much card at all actually.
I think the biggest card Canada holds is that it's going to stop buying American defense products.
That has security implications.
This is something that the United States probably is very angry about, and probably Mr Carney can use that as a leverage to strike a good deal.
I think from Canada's perspective it's still very It's a very good deal to buy American defense products.
It's still a state-of-the-art defense product.
And that's probably a fairly large card it can use.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Professor John Gong joining us from the University of International Business and Economics.
This is World Today.
Stay tuned.
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I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
From the Jiangsu Football City League or Siu Super League to a growing number of similar city-based football competitions across China.
Packed stadiums are translating into real economic activities.
These events are exploring a new path for grassroots competition to leverage local economies.
In the previous season, the Sioux Super League ran for over 170 days, joined more than 24 million fans to stadiums and more than 22 billion online live streaming viewers.
Official data show that every 1 yuan in terms of ticket revenue ended up driving over 7 yuan in terms of related spending.
So is the event economy emerging as a sustainable growth engine for China?
My colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Li Lun, assistant professor of economics at Peking University.
So Professor Li Lun, thank you very much for joining us.
China is seeing a surge in local football leagues like Su Super League.
So how significant is this for the broader event economy, do you think?
Yeah, it is quite significant, I think, and also quite interesting, because this is no longer a phenomenon that's just about football, because we have seen that the Sioux Super League has grown from a grassroots, amateur level city league to a full consumption platform which is linking sport tourism retail, dining and also local branding at the city level, and if you look at the scale, it already looks very meaningful.
For example, the previous season drew about 243 million spectators in stadium and basically generated more than 22 billion online views, which is quite remarkable for a provincial level football league.
And also, I think what makes it especially important is that it's It fits china's broader shift towards service consumption because, for example, the official data is showing that China service related consumption has reached 46 of household spending 2025 and policymakers are actively trying to raise that share even further.
So economically, I think this is a quite useful and also quite interesting case that we're basically answering the question can a relatively low cost, high frequency local event like the Sioux Super League create repeated spending and strong local demand?
I think the Sioux Super League is suggesting that the answer may be yes.
And for the Sioux Super League actually in the previous season.
Data suggests that every 1 yuan in ticket revenue can drive over 7 yuan in related spending.
So tell us more details of it.
How would drive the related consumption in tourism, in retails and hospitality?
And how sustainable is that multiplier effect?
Yeah, so the mechanism is very straightforward because when there are a football match between two cities, usually one city is the host city and the other city is the guest city, where the fans need to travel to another city to watch the game.
So the ticket is not simply the end goal or the product itself.
The ticket is like the trigger or the starting point because you have to travel to another city.
Then you have to spend on transportation hotels restaurants, you know, snacks or souvenirs, shopping and everything you know combined.
So you know, Jiangsu's experience is actively showing how this is working in practice, because the convenience of the high-speed railway also, you know, in terms of the popularity of this event is creating a huge amount of interest and also revenue.
And also according to a survey it says 58 of these out of town spectators said, besides watching the football game, they would also arrange some local tourism.
So this is good news for the local city because after they watch the game, they can spend more time visiting the local nearby attractions.
And also in terms of sustainability.
This event is also going to be very helpful, and because the multiplier is going to apply not only to the current year but also in the future years, potentially for future generations, because if the parents bring the kids to watch the super league, maybe when they grow up they can also schedule similar trips in the future.
So this is a very sustainable multiplier effect.
You know, when the match becomes not only a sports event but also like a tradition and also a unique city experience,
Well, it seems that people here in China are becoming more and more willing to pay for emotional value.
So Li Lun, why is it and what does it really mean in economic terms?
Yeah.
So I think, in economic language, what the emotional value is providing the consumers are.
You know, the consumers are paying their money not just for the functionality of the good, but also for the identity, for the sense of belonging, for the sense of excitement, memory and social connection that's attached to the good.
So in the traditional consumption model, consumption is more about utility in the narrow term, but in the new model, where consumption is more towards emotional value, people also value the feeling of supporting their hometown, for example in the case of Super League, also sharing the experience with their friends, also posting it online in social media, and also participating locally and in person in this local cultural moment.
So these are the things that traditional goods only consumption cannot provide.
So this is why, as you mentioned, a pretty cheap ticket can generate and unlock a lot of spending in other areas as well, because once the emotional attachment is there, people are more willing to spend on merchandise, on souvenir and all of the related entertainments, because they feel like they're not only buying a product but also showing support to their home city.
As you earlier mentioned, cities like Nanjing and Suzhou are leveraging the Super League for tourism.
So how important is sports in shaping city branding today?
Yeah.
So I think it's a very important and also very unique channel because you know the sporting events are giving cities new identities that you know the traditional advertisements or traditional branding cannot.
For example, you know the City League is.
They're going to create a lot of stories or rivalries between cities.
Maybe, you know, between different cities they could become, you know, traditional rivalries or they could, for example, become a team together or they could have different, complicated relationship through these sporting events.
And also we are seeing that Jiangsu's You know each the government of each city is have also recognized this difference in the brand image.
For example, we're seeing suitian hiring one of the celebrities to kind of promote their super league games and actually was very effective, attracted a lot of attention on the internet.
So the city branding today is not just about infrastructure or the local attraction.
It's also about whether a city can create something distinctive, that's experience, that's shareable, and sports is a very effective way to do this.
And could this evolve into intercity competition, not just in sports but in attracting talents, investment and visitors?
And how to ensure this kind of competition remains a healthy and good one?
Yeah, so I think this absolutely could be extended beyond sports.
For example, if a city succeeds in the branding through sports, it could gain soft power, for example, becoming more well-known, and this popularity can spill over into tourism, into the confidence of the business society and also even attract investors.
But I mean, the key is really to avoid the unhealthy reveries, as you mentioned that, because we don't want the government to give too much short-term subsidies based on the short-term popularities, the short-term rankings of the games.
So cities should really compete not only on the sporting events but also in terms of their public services, their event organization, their convenience of their transportation.
And actually, the fans can actually feel the difference.
When they go to a different city they could feel whether the event organization or the transportation is good or bad in the city.
And I think in this sense it could become a healthy competition because, you know, fans could notice which city is more accessible, which city is more fun to watch, and the city governments, through this kind of you know competition, you know, by providing unique services through, you know, providing these public services, is going to actually benefit the business society as well.
And finally, Professor Li Lun, how does China's grassroots city-based league model compare with sports-driven economies in other countries like UK and Italy?
Yeah, so I think the biggest difference is that for the European countries that you mentioned, The sports economy is already highly commercialized and also institutionalized.
They already generate a lot of profit.
China's model is a bit different because it's, at this stage, is still less mature in terms of commercial values, but in some ways it's more socially active and socially dynamic, because a lot of people in Jiangsu, for example, notice and actively pay attention to it.
And I think the fan base is much larger than For example, for football in some countries.
So it's built on grassroot participation and also it features low ticket prices so everyone can be included, including kids and the elderlies.
And it provides very strong local identity because, instead of competition between different clubs, it's competition between different cities and you could very easily attach your identity towards the city of your hometown.
And this stronger social identity is going to attract more government coordination and also investors, hopefully in the future, to make these sporting events more mature.
Maybe in the future we're also going to see a more commercialized and also more fun experience, like what we're observing in UK and Italy, for example.
Dr Li Lun, Assistant Professor of Economics with Peking University, talking with my colleague Zhao Yang.
That's all the time for this edition of World Today.
I'm Dinghan in Beijing.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
