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Hello and welcome to World Today.
I'm Ding Hen in Beijing.
Coming up, Premier Li Qiang stresses that China is serving as a catalyst for global economic growth.
China unveils measures to boost auto consumption.
Volodymyr Zelensky skips post-war conference amid tensions between Ukraine and Poland.
Kenya signs a US$1.2 billion deal with a Chinese firm to expand Nairobi airport.
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First up, Chinese Premier Li Qiang says innovation-driven development is the key to China's long-term economic resilience and steady growth.
He made remarks while addressing the opening session of the 17th Summer Davos, held in the Chinese coastal city of Dalian.
Premier Li Qiang attributed China's steady economic growth to a stable environment and innovation-driven development.
He said China's innovation is earned through many years of hard work to strengthen its own capabilities.
The Chinese premier also said that China's artificial intelligence sector has experienced explosive growth.
He noted that multiple Chinese large language models have achieved new performance breakthroughs, adding that daily token consumption of Chinese large language models had surpassed 100 trillion as of the end of May.
So for more.
Joining us now on the line is Professor Liu Baocheng from the University of International Business and Economics.
So thank you very much for joining us, Professor Liu.
It's always a pleasure, Dan.
First of all, a key message from the Chinese premier is that China's technologies and products in emerging fields are not bringing shock or threat to the rest of the world.
Instead, they are bringing opportunities and empowerment.
He said that in the past, China primarily shared dividends with the rest of the world through its massive market and low-cost production.
Now the country is also providing innovation dividends to global markets.
How do you understand China's innovation dividends?
And in your understanding, is there such a thing as China Shock 2.0?
Well, as a scholar, I would say this is really a China shock, but it is not really a threat.
The shock can be referred to a different notion.
So I would very much agree with Premier Li's challenge that China's innovation is now providing a dividend.
That is, they refer to the growing contribution of the Chinese technology research, industrial innovation to the global growth.
Yes, in the past, when China particularly joined WTO, there was a shock because the whole world was really stunned by this sudden surge of the Chinese exports and also the Chinese opening to the rest of the world.
And China was also shocked by the influx of so many global companies investing in China, competing with Chinese companies.
Also the Chinese.
The domestic producers does also feel the shock, for example for the Chinese big agricultural farms.
They feel also the shock of the importation of soybeans from the United States, et cetera.
But just by tolerating and also by guardrailing a unfair type of competition.
China really stood up as a major contributor to the rest of the world, both in goods and services.
Now, particularly with the high quality manufacturing products and services, with the digital innovation and also now with more of the renewable.
Therefore, I would really distinguish China's innovation dividend from the notion of the China shock 20, which was really brought up by many of the European countries.
Therefore, the key challenge is not whether China is there to innovate, but how economists can really cooperate and compete fairly.
And also the counterparts will have to understand this notion was more of domestic innovation, both in their industry and also in their industrial system, rather than throwing complaints into the rising competition coming from China.
So in that sense, China's innovation should be viewed more as an opportunity rather than a really threat.
Talking about the rising competition from China.
Another key message from the Chinese premier is that China's competitiveness is not a result of state subsidies, but from hard work across its own industries.
He cited this particular example of Huawei, saying that, despite the external pressure and blockade faced by this company over the past many years, it has invested some 1 trillion yuan into RD over the past decade.
So Professor, what do you make of the role of the hardworking spirit in China's increased innovation capability?
I should say the right type of subsidy, which is in line with the WTO rules and also in line with the spirit of global competition.
With regard to transparency and accountability, is something that is totally acceptable and that's also part of the governance that's there to support industrial growth.
But the issue is that the Chinese support is more of the manifold.
So many other countries Europeans, Americans they are also doing the same, you know, with more of the government support.
And so that's undeniable.
But innovation ultimately depends on people.
So the capital can be invested and technologies can be imported, but innovation ecosystem that requires long-term commitment, perseverance and continuous learning.
So that's what has been happening in china.
We have been also learning a great deal from the technological advancement from many other countries, but we are able to move and upgrade along that through the Chinese, the wisdom and also Chinese hard work.
The example of Huawei and many other companies are there to be able to show a good illustrative work because, even though under tough restrictions from external forces, these companies maintain substantial RD investment over the years and they really reflect a broader characteristic of the Chinese firms' willingness to invest in long-term and also going for more of the technological innovation, instead of producing large, low-cost and homogeneous type of products.
Therefore, this way is really the combination of the Chinese learning capacity and also inclusiveness in working with partners.
And together with Chinese drive in the engineering and also in the state-of-the-art capacity building.
So that's there to produce the Chinese entrepreneurship.
And therefore that really shows up the Chinese company's competitiveness instead of relying on government subsidies.
A third message from Premier Li Qiang is that China has served as an important safe haven for the world economy amid rising global turbulence.
In the case of the economic shock from the Iran war, for example, do you think China has served as a stabilizing force for the world economy?
Yes, the livelihood of people really depends on the goods and services that is being provided.
In that sense, China contributed more than 30% of the manufacturing goods to the whole world.
And also more importantly, China has steadily opened its market for global goods, particularly from the global south.
So now, when the world is really being troubled by all the geopolitical conflicts, when uncertainty is going on in the energy markets, in the logistic networks and the financial markets, etc.
A large economy like China is there to maintain domestic stability and also to continuous open door.
That's there to shape the supply chain reliability, of course.
That's there largely reduces the global volatility.
So China plays such a role because it remains one of the world's largest trading nation, manufacturing center and also consumer markets.
So, right now, the performance of China, both in its domestic industrial manufacturing, in boosting domestic consumption and also supporting the global interconnectivity through good example and through the real capacity.
So that's something that China is really contributing as a major stabilizing force to the whole world.
Therefore, no single country can fully isolate the world economy from geopolitical shocks.
China is now positioning itself to push forward peacemaking around the world, And also China is there to serve as a good example as how stability and how hard work and how productivity can really bring a better life to all the people in the world.
Another corporate level example cited by the Chinese premier during his address here is about the Unitary Robotics based in Zhejiang province, where the premier once worked as a local official.
He said the humanoid robotics firm was valued at just 10 million yuan in 2016 when he left Zhejiang, but it is now worth 42 billion yuan.
What does the growth of the company tells us?
Do you think China provides high-yield investment opportunities for global investors today?
I think there are many examples in China, like Unitree Robotics, who really started very small and now they become major players in the world market, whereas more of the promise industries particularly, was now the digitization drive, such as the humanoid, the robots.
So, more broadly, this case also highlights several strengths of the chinese innovation environment a large domestic market in the first place, and then the strong manufacturing capacity and the deep engineering talent.
And now there's also the government policy to support a more sophisticated industry with venture capital, with the guideline as how to support the trading program for that companies to be supported with more of the new equipments and new softwares.
So for global investors, China's attractiveness should not really be judged solely by short-term market fluctuations.
And because China is now also getting more and more interdependent with the rest of the world, so the global shocks also can really bring more of the impact on the Chinese economic performance.
But the more important part is that whether the future growth opportunities are really emerging.
So the areas like AI robotics, big data at advanced manufacture, renewable energy and healthcare technology.
And most recently, our Ministry of Education also announced the further opening for educational services.
You know, cooperation with the rest of the world.
So therefore, Investors must really evaluate the risk, regulatory conditions and also the major directions.
The government is really moving along by stabilizing the domestic social conditions and by supporting innovation, and also by being committed to a long-term regulatory stability.
So these are really there to support large innovation that can really team up with the rest of the global players along the entire supply chain.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Professor Liu Baocheng joining us from the University of International Business and Economics.
This is World Today.
Stay tuned.
You're listening to World Today, I'm Ding Hen in Beijing.
While artificial intelligence continues to attract massive global investment and attention, a leading economist attending this year's Summer Devos Forum is urging policymakers not to view artificial intelligence as a cue-all for the world's major challenges.
Arturo Borris is the director of the World Competitiveness Center with the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Speaking with my colleague Song-Rui Xin.
He says the net impact of AI on the energy transition remains to be uncertain, warning against depending on the technology alone to address climate change.
He also argues that more investment should be flowing into sectors with stronger job creation potential.
Professor, let me start with the argument.
One of the arguments we always hear is that artificial intelligence will accelerate decarbonization through smarter grids and efficiency gains and optimized energy systems.
Why can't we just wait for artificial intelligence to solve all of the problems, including energy transition?
Well, in principle, the balance of AI and the impact of AI on the energy transition is still questionable because there are two effects at play.
The first effect is obviously AI usage requires a lot of energy and electricity and they require sources that can be as sustainable as we want but still the consumption of electricity in the world has already increased and it will increase even more.
The second effect, the one you point out, is that it can have positive effects on decarbonisation by, for example, developing new technologies.
I am not sure which of the two effects is going to dominate.
Currently the first one is dominating, but we need innovation and we need eruptions to truly help climate transition and green transition to technology.
So I've read some of your articles.
You've argued that business leaders must navigate growing partisan divides over net zero goals.
Why has net zero become so politically divisive?
And how is today's polarization different from earlier climate policy debates?
My understanding of climate and sustainability is that sometimes it becomes an added constraint to the objective of executives and companies.
In essence.
Historically we have seen the objective of the corporation to maximize our holder value, and now we have introduced a constraint as well.
But you need to also preserve a certain environmental fairness and sustainability.
I think what has been happening and that's where the political debate comes is that sometimes we have transformed a political debate into something that is let's maximize sustainability and the future of our societies, subject to the constraint that shareholders need a return.
And I think that's the wrong approach.
This duality of the problem has to be resolved in favour of the system, and the system, at the end of the day, is about maximising returns to capital, and the system that we have for companies is one where both capital and labour are rewarded.
Because it is a purely ideological difference.
There is no factual preference for one or the other.
It becomes political.
And we have seen that this political fragmentation that has happened in the world in many other dimensions has also touched the environment.
And then we see that in countries where you have political parties of left and right, they will have totally different approaches.
And this is just somehow very artificial.
So I just had a talk with the APAC's executive and he talked about Asia Pacific.
So from your observation, because you are from Europe, what is the difference?
I mean, the challenges when we are trying to maximize those energy transition?
Yes, the big difference is that the European Union in particular, and Europe in general, has taken a very regulatory approach.
That is because of this fragmentation and because of this political divide.
Then there has been a political consensus to regulate the green transition from the top.
And this is the Green Act in the European Union that once again brought a lot of political consensus, despite having different political sides represented in the Parliament and the Commission.
In Southeast Asia, I think it's much more practical and factual.
That is.
I think that we just go after sustainability and green transition for the sake of it, because we think it's good, because we think it's the right thing to do, and very often we don't need regulation to tell us what is right and what is wrong.
Once again, probably the European approach is better because it removes uncertainty by corporate executives.
I know what I have to do because the law tells me to do that.
Well, when you leave it at the company's discretion, then there is a lot of uncertainty.
On the other hand, regulation imposes a lot of restrictions and constraints.
So you know, one is not necessarily better than the other.
OK then climate and energy policies swing between competing priorities, like you've said before, and that is decarbonisation, affordability and energy security.
So how does this growing political uncertainty affect investment decisions and ultimately, the stability of jobs in the green energy sector?
I think we have come to a realization now that sustainability and the green transition is an added cost to companies.
That is, we had the mantra for some years that you can do good and do well.
And I think now companies shareholders, regulators have realized that you cannot do both or it's extremely difficult to do both.
And that's why, at the end of the day, a green transition is costly for companies, it's costly for shareholders and it's costly for taxpayers.
So this now requires a different type of ecosystem, and accepting that cost, for example, has an impact on capital return for investors, and in my case, if I run a pension fund and I know that by investing in green stocks I'm going to earn a lower return, then I need to confront my members with that dilemma.
Do you want to be green or do you want to earn a high pension?
With respect to the related point about jobs, I think that this transformation in the capitalistic model is requiring new skills and new attitudes, and I must say that the new generation is more prone to accepting this debate than the older generation that I belong to.
So ultimately, who bears the cost of that uncertainty?
Who will pay for that?
Everybody.
At the end of the day, that uncertainty results in a dead weight loss.
When there is no clarity on which type of policies are going to be implemented.
Capital flows less.
Returns are lower risk increases and ultimately, taxpayers are affected.
Governments are affected.
Corporates are affected as well.
While some economists are debating climate commitments and others are focusing on industrial transformation and employment creation, let me turn to China, which is pursuing a different approach by linking industrial policy directly to job creation.
One of China's latest employment plans focuses on strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials and low-altitude economy.
You may have noticed that.
While expanding the green workforce.
How do you assess this strategy and what is the biggest challenge, you think, in translating these ambitions into sustainable employment at scale?
I think that the goal of the Chinese government to focus on to increase jobs is very wise.
We always see prosperity and competitiveness for us is exactly that.
The ability of nations to generate economic prosperity by creating jobs, by paying high salaries, by attracting talent and then, by talent and employees, paying taxes that can be used to finance hospitals and schools.
So that's the right approach.
To the extent that there are jobs in a particular industry.
In this case, sustainability is very welcome.
What I see and I come from a business school is that I think there was a boom on jobs, on sustainability.
But I think it's now coming to an end.
I think that we expected sustainability to create way more jobs, and today, especially because what you said earlier, some companies are retreating, there are not many job offers for sustainability experts.
I think the Chinese message to the rest of the world is that what is important is to talk less and do more.
And I think what China has been doing when it comes to environmental policies is to do a lot, to move ahead and then ignore discussions debates, strategies and regulations.
And I think that's the big lesson.
At the end of the day, implementation is what matters.
Do you think education systems and training systems are adapting quickly enough to meet the requirements or needs of the energy transition?
Yes.
Well, in certain countries, yes.
In certain countries, no.
But I think that the education system, that is, the system that puts a 25-year-old graduating the job market, is not enough today.
What I studied when I graduated from university 30 years ago is completely useless today.
And I think what we need to do is we need to upskill employees over time in companies, not so much by schools or universities.
And what this means is that the concept of the education system needs to be broader now and should incorporate also companies and, of course, the government, because we need to upskill a 60 year old employee into new technologies and every year the needs and the demand for reskilling and upskilling will be different, and we need to be prepared for that as well.
That was Dr Arturo Burres, director with the IMD World Competitive Center, talking with my colleague Song Ruixin.
You're listening to World Today.
I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
We'll be back after a very short break.
You're back with World Today, I'm Ding Hen in Beijing.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry has announced measures to intensify efforts to promote the full chain expansion of the auto industry.
The measures designate 40 pilot cities.
Each city is called upon to address bottlenecks such as unreasonable restrictions on auto circulation and sales, and cultivate new business forms.
For example, Tianjin will focus on automobile modification, classic cars, and racing.
Yangzhou will prioritize RV camping, while Weinan, in the northwestern Chinese province of Shanxi, will focus on scrap vehicle recycling and utilization.
The Ministry of Commerce has also released measures to cultivate and expand auto aftermarket sales.
So for more on this, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Dr Li Lun, assistant professor of economics with Peking University.
So Professor Li Lun, thank you very much for joining us.
China has unveiled pilot reforms in 40 cities to boost vehicle consumption.
So what is the policy objective of these new measures and what are something new here?
Yeah.
So I think the overall objective of these policies are switching our focus from a one time purchase stimulus to a full chain consumption expansion.
So i think this policy is no longer just about encouraging people to buy a new car, but instead it covers, you know purchase, usage and also circulation, as well as service, the culture and also recycling part of you know automobile, And I think what stands out is several things.
First is the pilot city mechanism.
So 40 cities are being selected and asked to remove all the bottlenecks and also the restrictions in terms of auto circulation and consumption.
And also there is a tailored reform suggestion to basically to encourage them to build on their local, local industrial strength, their geography and consumer demand to delve into different areas.
And I think a second new element is the explicit focus on the new consumption scenarios, including modification, usage of classic cars motorsports RV camping, car rental use, car circulation, recycling and also auto culture.
So i think this is definitely going to broaden the definition of automobile consumption.
I think finally, the policy also links auto consumption with the commerce tourism culture, sports and also, you know, a wide range of opportunities basically, especially in services and experiences, not just in product and vehicle sales.
And so why is the government now focusing on the entire auto value chain rather than simply encouraging new car purchases?
So by now, China already has the largest automobile fleet in the world.
So we have more than 366 million passenger cars and automobiles is already very large and very mature.
So I think the biggest growth opportunity, if we look ahead, is no longer just about the first purchase.
It's also about the recurring spending that follows ownership, including maintenance repair, insurance And, for example, the resale modification, camping and finally recycling of a car.
So this full lifecycle of a car can incur a lot of, you know, new consumption scenarios.
And basically this new car demand also faces some structural limits because you know, very mature market like China's market.
Simply pushing people to buy new cars could strengthen the price competition and potentially increase the problem of overcapacity.
Having a full chain strategy is going to create value, but uh, do not necessarily create all of these competitions.
Uh stress, stress.
And i think this full chain policy also supports the so-called green transition for china's policy, because when we have better recycling and trading remanufacturing programs, you know people could also switch to nevs and also reduce waste and improve the efficiency of the usage of our resource.
And the policy emphasized moving beyond vehicle sales towards services and experiences.
So how is China's auto market evolving?
And can the automobile aftermarket become a new engine for China's consumption-driven economy?
Yes, I think so, because the aftermarket is really turning the car ownership into a continuous consumption.
The car is no longer just about transportation because, for example, in the case of RV, it's really a platform for lifestyle, for travel, for entertainment.
And for motorsports, it's a platform for sport and personal expression.
So I think, the government's new aftermarket measures.
Overall it covers six areas, including auto modification, RV camping, classic cars, maintenance and insurance, motorsports and car rental.
So I think this shift is also being accelerated by the occurrence the introduction of NEVs, because for these EV owners, they also need to have charging services, software related services and also specialized repair networks.
So I think overall policy fits China's broader consumption strategy because in terms of China's service retail sales in 2025 it rises by 5.
And the aftermarket can really become a new growth engine because it really converts, as I said, a one-time durable goods purchase into these recurring diversified service consumption which combines leisure and sports and all of these other tourism, including these other types of service consumption.
And the pilot cities are pursuing different priorities from auto modification to RV camping.
So could you elaborate more on that?
And why is a region specific approach important right now?
Yeah, so auto consumption, I think, is a very highly local area and sector because, for example, if you live in a city where the manufacturing clusters and auto shops are very close, it's very different from a city where you have few of these auto shops.
And, for example, there are cities with existing racing facilities nearby, there are cities with scenic routes and also recycling capacity.
So Different cities have different comparative advantage.
So that's why, for example in Tianjin, maybe it can focus on auto modification, classic cars and racing.
In Yangzhou, maybe it can focus on RV camping because of the scenic spots.
And cities like Changzhou in Hebei and Hunan in Shaanxi can focus on scrap vehicle recycling.
So I think the policy is explicitly asking cities to design their specific reforms around their local industrial strength, their own market conditions, their own resource endowments and geographical advantages.
So this region-specific approach also is going to reduce the competition in policy.
Instead of spending equally on every city on every focus areas.
Basically, it's going to ask cities to focus on the specific bottlenecks that matters most in a local phenomenon.
For example, for some of these RV campsites, they need to apply for a specific approval for land use sites and this is going to cost time.
So we don't want every cities to raise in and have this competition of having an RV campsite everywhere.
This is also going to reduce the waste.
When it comes to the pilot program,
And the government also plans to relax restrictions in areas such as vehicle modification and also motorsports.
What opportunities could this create?
Yeah, so I think this regulated legislation to allow for graded and category-based vehicle modification is going to create new demand, especially for the companies that have compliant parts and compliant design testing certification facilities and also have the required insurance and specialized repair.
So this is basically going to give the legitimate businesses room to grow, while it's going to push some of these illegitimate or unsafe modification out of the gray zone.
So once we have more focus on motorsports, for example, it could also generate a broader interest for car modification.
It can also unlock a broader local economy, including events tourism hotels, catering and so on and so forth, especially for the education of youth sports.
So a lot of young childs and young people could enter this area and also pay more attention into, for example, participating in international events, professional events,
So it could unlock a whole new area of professional growth as well.
I think finally, there's also an industrial angle, because all of these vehicle modification and motorsports really can become a testing ground for these new batteries, for these new lightweight materials, control systems, for intelligent driving technologies.
And so this could be a really good testing ground for the R&D for these car companies.
So I think the real opportunity here is really to use this car modification and motorsports and transform them from niche hobbies into these regulated and very safe, also commercially viable service industries.
And you mentioned RV camping is also highlighted as a new consumption scenario.
So why is this sector getting the policy support?
Yeah.
So RV camping really fits the rights of the experienced based consumption that's often requested or demanded by the middle income group in China.
Consumers are really spending more on these short distance travel with outdoor leisure.
Also more allowing for parent child activities or, you know, bringing their own pets, and also in terms of having a more flexible schedule.
So RV camping really fits in this category really well.
And China's camping economy has grown really quickly in the past.
So I think the policy is directly targeting some of the key bottlenecks, including the road access for RVs, campsites and also these campsite services, including water and electricity, medical rescue and also in terms of repair and replenishment.
I think in the future is definitely going to get more support or more popularity, because it's really a connection between car and tourism, between car and outdoor recreation and between car and local services.
Dr Li Lun, Assistant Professor of Economics from Peking University, talking with my colleague Zhao Yang.
You're listening to World Today.
I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will skip a high-level meeting on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction due to a deepening rift with Poland.
The Ukrainian delegation to this year's Ukraine Recovery Conference, held in Poland, will be led by the country's Prime Minister, Yulia Sviadanko.
The annual conference took place in Italy, Germany, and Britain in previous years.
Tensions arose between Poland and Ukraine after President Zelensky named a military unit after the heroes of the Ukrainian insurgent army, or the UPA, last month.
The UPA is seen in Ukraine as a symbol of heroic resistance in the fight for Ukrainian independence.
In Poland however, the UPA is largely known for killing as many as 100000 Polish people in a region between 1943 and 1945, in attempts to ensure that that particular territory didn't become part of the post-war Poland.
That episode in that part of the history remains to be a painful yet unresolved issue in bilateral ties between Wausau and Kiev.
So joining us now on the line is Dr Zhang Xin, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian Studies, East China Normal University.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
So in 2023, Zelensky actually received an Order of the White Eagle, which is the highest civilian honor in Poland, but due to the current rift, Polish President Karol Narocki has decided to strip President Zelensky of that honor.
In your observation, how will this rift between the two sides develop in the days ahead?
First of all, I think this kind of rift over historical memory, especially those parts of history between the two countries towards the end of World War II, has been there for quite a long time.
It pops up frequently when the bilateral relations are strained by other factors.
Differences of interpreting and memorizing history would also pop up when the other conditions make the bilateral relations deteriorate.
So this is not something new.
Actually previously, several living ukrainian former presidents or top-level officials politicians, also received the similar order of the white eagle, but for various reasons, or returned the order back to poland one way or another.
And for this particular rift, it happened in a very unfortunate time, particularly in the context of Ukraine's being in a de facto war situation with Russia.
And the Ukraine for the past few years has received a huge amount of support from Poland.
So I think the rift over these historical chapters happened in a very unfortunate time.
In the current situation,
And I think for the near future, it will depend how this rift will develop.
Well, first of all depends on how much, For example, the Polish president, who's from a relatively conservative party, would want to further utilize this particular story for its own domestic audience.
And secondly, whether this rift will influence other aspects of the Polish-Ukrainian relations.
That will influence the possibility that Poland may withdraw some of its key support to Ukraine.
Yeah.
So Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is the main host for this year's Ukraine recovery conference that will be held in his hometown.
Actually, that's a coastal city in Poland.
He has repeatedly called for the escalation of tensions between Poland and Ukraine.
And considering his pro-EU stance and his willingness to support Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, do you think he is somehow in a kind of awkward and embarrassing position right now?
Yeah, I would say so, especially if we take into consideration that this year's Ukraine recovery conference is going to be actually held at Prime Minister Tusk's own hometown, the city of Gdansk.
That makes the current aspect of history.
It makes the fact that President Zelensky is not going to attend this important meeting at Mr Tusk's own home city.
Make it even a more embarrassing position for Mr. Tusk, too.
And I think the next steps, we will see whether Ms.
Tusk can still manage to pull this conference successfully through all these historical rift and then also to keep his general stance of supporting ukraine, including ukraine's uh future member membership status in ukraine, whether he will still more or less keep this stance unchanged, i think this current embarrassing position uh itself wouldn't be the wouldn't be the last draw to break the whole um political stance of Mr Tusk.
I think this wouldn't change the whole story.
But Mr Tusk does have some tough job to do, especially in terms of how to counter those forces that increasingly question Polish support for Ukraine within Polish society.
That's actually a much more challenging task for him.
Okay.
So, realistically speaking, how much does Ukraine rely on Poland in terms of fighting its war with Russia and in terms of seeking post-war reconstruction?
Poland does have an important and unique position, partly because its geographic location.
Currently a huge amount of all kinds of material support Ukraine, including a large number of underground personnel mobility in and out of Ukraine, are now taking place through the territory of Poland.
Just for that factor, you can already see how much of an important role Poland has been playing in the past few years.
And then, depending on the ruling party's stance, I think Poland overall in the past few years more or less, has kept a pro-Ukraine stance, in terms of both support for Ukraine's military campaign as well as support for possible future EU membership state.
Although that stance could fluctuate depending on who's going to be the main party in the Polish government.
But still, I think overall that stance is there.
So the post-war reconstruction, by the way, which we should probably not call the post-war reconstruction, because the reconstruction is going on.
It's an ongoing process.
It also partly depends on how much Poland is in the same boat with Ukraine.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Dr. Zhang Xin, joining us from the Center for Russian Studies, East China Normal University.
This is World Today.
Stay tuned.
Welcome.
I am Chuchu Zhang, Deputy Director at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University.
On the World Today program.
We will dive beyond the headlines to uncover the stories, trends and impacts that connect states across the globe.
Join me on World Today.
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I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
Kenya has signed a US12 billion agreement with China Road and Bridge Corporation to expand Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
Kenya's Transport Minister, Davis Chilchil, says the project includes the construction of a new terminal building, the upgrading and modernization of existing infrastructure and the improvement of the airside and landslide operations.
Plans are underway to nearly triple the annual passenger capacity at the Nairobi airport from 75 million to 22 million.
Kenya is now looking to maintain its position as a regional aviation hub, as nearby countries like Ethiopia and Rwanda all invest heavily in new airport construction.
So for more.
Joining us now on the line is Dr He Wenping, Africa affairs expert and a senior research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you very much for inviting me.
So this was previously a project between Kenya and India's Adani group.
But later on, because of a series of troubles legally financially, faced by the Adani group of India, The agreement was terminated by the Kenyan side.
Why do you think Kenya has now chosen to team up with a Chinese corporation to push forward this project?
Well, I think the biggest advantage coming from a Chinese company, that is, we are not saying in charge of this, you know, the new airport after it is finished, and they're saying in China's hands.
Because, as far as I know, the Indian group They want to operate this newly built, expanded this airport in India company's operation for at least 30 years.
And also, we laid off quite a lot of those workers from Kenya.
So that's why it caused a lot of tension building.
Even those airports, those workers they had the strike and then post the great, this challenge and the pressure to Kenya government.
Actually, as far as I know the Indian group, the bidding price for this terminal building actually is lower.
The whole price is much lower than Chinese company, at least $300 million lower.
But eventually the Kenya government choose Chinese company because Chinese company not asking for saying 30 years under Chinese companies operation and also not asking for like any like laid off workers and this and that China company just do this construction after it's done and then hand it over all to Kenya side to operate this airport.
And then do whatever they do.
They are in charge.
So it's not saying wow, such a long time, 30 years, all this business and ticket income from this airport, all goes to like an Indian company.
So this is very much, you know, easily to get local staff and workers this resentment.
Yeah.
So do you think Kenya's plan to expand this airport in Nairobi is a sign that competition in terms of East Africa's regional aviation market is getting increasingly intense?
And what could be the competitive advantage enjoyed by Kenya in this regard?
Yes, now the competition is getting uh very much intense because uh we, we know ethiopia now is doing airport uh, the re, you know, construction and expanding, and the same as the luanda luanda kikari, this international airport also is doing the same thing.
Both they want to make themselves as the hub of the aviation and trying to attract more international visitors from all over the world or from the other countries in Africa.
So that is why this competition is really now intense.
That's why also make Kenya also hurry up to build to get this project doing.
So for the competitive advantage of Kenya, of course, they also enjoy it quite a lot.
For example, this city I visited many, many times.
I enjoy very good this weather and also lots of these human resources there.
For example, those high-level, relatively high-level human resources training has been going.
Those students, education level also higher, engineer also quite a lot.
And plus, even UN, some, you know, there's a local headquarter also based in Nairobi in Kenya.
Even Chinese are...
CGTN, African, there's a headquarter also based there.
So that's why, because a lot of international this organization prefer to choose Nairobi as their local office branch.
So which means they're quite competitive.
So in other words, the soft power of Nairobi or the Kenya site is established.
The other two are the challengers.
So, from China's perspective, Dr He Wenping, why do you think China is getting involved in this situation?
Aviation infrastructure construction in East Africa's aviation sector.
What do you think this tells us about the nature of China-Africa cooperation?
Yeah, the nature of China-Africa cooperation is always focused on this infrastructure connectivity.
We have been talking about like three connectivity in terms of infrastructure.
One is the road, those access roads, and also connectivity.
Another is a railway connectivity.
We are building lots of railway, for example, in this Kenya linking Nairobi and also capital city Nairobi and the east port city Mombasa, this standard gauge railway also being built by Chinese company, this road and bridge corporation.
So they have been building up their very high reputation in Kenya and also in Africa as a whole.
Another connectivity is aviation.
One is online, another is in the air.
This aviation connectivity also has been, uh folks, for china's infrastructure construction in africa, because for doing all this upgrading the infrastructure connectivity, that is the very important step forward for pushing this we call single African market, this construction.
Because Africa has been long, you know, hold on for the economic development, because this fragmentation of the market.
You know, 53 countries in one continent, and then so we started building a big single market.
And then it's very hard to push forward this economic integration in Africa.
So that is why to building this infrastructure, connectivity.
This is the step, very important step, for moving to this direction.
So China has been involved in those infrastructure building through connectivity for a long, long time.
Especially after the One Belt, One Road initiative has been issued in the year 2013, this kind of infrastructure connectivity even get more driving force and getting on a new momentum.
Yeah, momentum is really great.
But thank you very much for joining us.
Dr. He Wenping joining us from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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.
