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I'm Ding Hen in Beijing.
Coming up, US government shutdown begins as Washington is ruled by deepening partisan division.
China rolls out K visa targeting global young talent.
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You can download our podcast by searching World Today.
The US government has shut down much of its operations as Congress and the White House failed to reach a funding deal.
It is the first government shutdown since 2018 and the 15th since 1981.
The shutdown began hours after the Senate rejected a short-term spending measure that would have kept government operations afloat through November 21.
Democrats opposed the legislature over the Republicans' refusal to attach an extension of health benefits for millions of Americans.
Agencies warn that the shutdown will halt the release of a key September employment report, slow air travel, suspend scientific research, withhold pay from US troops and lead to the furlough of 750000 federal workers.
So joining us now on the line is Harvey Zoldan, former vice president of ABC TV Network.
So thank you very much for joining us today, Harvey.
Looking at this immediate trigger of the current government shutdown, namely the argument between the Democrats and Republicans over the extension of the health benefits, what do you make of the fundamental differences between the two sides on this particular issue?
Well, first, let me say happy National Day and Golden Week to you and your listeners.
And I need to declare my biases.
I'm a Democrat.
So the founder of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, said a century and a half ago that the purpose of government is to do for people what they can't do for themselves.
Now that's basically the Democratic Party position.
Republicans have been fighting about US health care for almost a century now.
They consider government single payer health care, like we have here in Europe and which works remarkably well to be socialism or communism, which unfortunately are very bad terms in the US.
The Republicans today consider the best government to be bare bones and place the burden on individuals.
Some people call that social Darwinism or survival of the fittest.
So really, that's the issue in a nutshell.
One party tries to help people and the other party lets people basically have to deal with challenges themselves that they're ill-equipped to address.
So this 2026 midterm elections in the United States will basically determine the control of the US Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.
And Democrats are under some kind of pressure from their supporters to score a victory ahead of the midterm.
So Harvey, from the perspective of political rivalry, Has the health care issue given a chance for the Democrats to unite behind an issue to resonate with voters?
Yes.
President Trump's on record saying, though, that there's no need for more elections.
So you can't assume that there will be elections.
He may have been joking, but let's assume that there are congressional elections on November 3rd of next year.
Healthcare should be a good issue for the Democrats to unite behind.
Our great American humorist, Will Rogers, once said though, that he wasn't a member of any organized political party because he was a Democrat.
Today, based on their horrible inability to counter Trump's avalanche of lies, the Democrats are acting like zombies, not a party that can counter Republican lies and organize its messaging to rally Democrats and independents to vote for them.
The party, it's still unfortunately comatose.
You'd think that, after Trump's first term and the current one, that they'd wake up with better messaging and new younger, better leaders, but they're not doing it.
And so they should be leading the charge, but they're not.
Now President Donald Trump and a few other White House officials are basically threatening to punish the Democrats with cuts to government programs or with the federal payroll, etc.
Does this mean that the government shutdown this time around could last longer than the previous budget-related government closures?
Well...
The problem is that Trump's vindictive and he's petty.
Last week, he said that he hated Democrats.
His mentor, the red-baiting lawyer Roy Cohn, taught Trump to fight and to never give up.
That advice so far has served Trump very well.
So I think that this shutdown will be longer than the previous record of 35 days in 2018, 2019.
Frankly, I'm worried that Trump is going to use that as an excuse to declare another national emergency by executive order and that he will declare martial law on the basis that the government needs to operate and the US is under siege from within.
So you have a recipe here for disaster.
And I do believe the excuse is going to be that the government is shut down and needs to be opened up.
And Trump is going to use that to take action.
So do you see a clear or any clear path out of the current impasse?
Some people say the polarized US political climate in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination, as well as this growing power on the extreme wings of both parties, could it make it harder for the political leaders of the two sides to agree on any deal to reopen the government?
Would you agree with points like this?
I don't see any way out of this impasse.
The country is divided right down the middle.
The Charlie Kirk assassination further inflamed the right wing.
When I was a legislative assistant in the House of Representatives a half century ago, Republican and Democrats were not as divided and they both tried to be problem solvers.
Today, it's much different.
It's all about scoring points and settling scores.
It's not about the art of compromise.
So, given the way Trump plays hardball, I'm very worried and I don't think that it's going to end well.
I take your point.
So Harvey, frankly speaking, do you think this particular mechanism, designed for this budget-related government closure, represents the strength of American democracy or the problem or even the weakness regarding the US democracy?
You called it a mechanism.
I'd say it's not a mechanism.
It's a way of problem solving with the backs up against the wall.
So you said it's the 15th federal shutdown since 1981.
You contrast that with China, where you're zeroing in on your next five-year plan, the management tool that China has used so successfully to drive your historic growth since 1949, a growth that's unequaled in world history.
In the US, I'm not sure that the system is broken or it's just the people at the top.
I'm sure though, that the system can be easily broken with a leader or leaders who have bad intentions or who are incompetent.
The founding fathers worried about this and designed the best system they could.
But as we've seen recently, the system is broken.
And so I'm not optimistic about where this is going to end.
I feel like, on the other hand, oversight or scrutiny of how the government money, the government budget, is being spent or will be spent, that's a very necessary and a critical issue for any government.
So, with that in mind, How can the United States manage to achieve this goal while, at the same time, try to prevent some of the institutional vulnerability or hurdles that could really be detrimental to this country's government or its average day-to-day political life?
Like Deng Xiaoping said, they should study truth from facts.
And the system in the US government now is broken.
It's broken because the mechanism that's being used is all about politics.
It's not about serving the people.
It's about self-service.
Self-service for billionaires.
Self-service for special interests.
And so we need to do things in a more organized way and we need to focus on the problems at hand.
But people are so busy playing politics that the economy is potentially in very bad shape and the country and the way it's governed is raising a lot of question marks for the future.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Harvey Zoldan, former vice president of ABC TV Network.
Coming up, China rolls out K-visa targeting global young talent.
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I'm Ding Han in Beijing.
China has officially launched its K-visa program aimed at attracting global young professionals.
The program allows applicants to enter China without employer sponsorship and offers long-term residency, tax benefits, housing support and streamlined administrative procedures.
Chinese authorities announced the initiative in August.
China's move is part of a broader global scramble to attract skilled professionals affected by US visa restrictions.
Germany Britain, Canada and South Korea have also announced initiatives targeting talent displaced by H-1B restrictions in the United States.
So for more.
Joining us now on the line is Professor Qu Bo, Director of the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University.
So thank you very much for joining us today, Professor Qu Bo.
First of all, why does China need global young professionals, especially those in science technology, engineering and mathematics fields?
What do you make of the role played by attracting global talents when we talk about China's pursuit of high quality economic or social development in a high level, opening up?
So I think the world needs young professionals, and not just China and especially those in STEM fields.
So high-level scientific and technological self-resilience and self-improvement cannot be achieved without the support and guarantee of young professional talent.
So regarding talent demand.
So, although China, our country, maintains a global lead in total scientific and technological human resources, but the talent shortage remains a major obstacle to scientific and technological innovation.
So, according to some statistics, over one third of entrepreneurs, they believe that the talent shortage or bring join are the primary factors hiding their corporations innovation.
So, with the upgrading of our country's industrial structure, new industries, new business forms and new models are constantly emerging, and the demand for youth professionals are also increasing.
So by now, the portion of R&D personnel in China employ the population.
So by now, it's like seven per 10,000 people.
So this figure remains far lower than that of countries and economies such as the United States.
The figure of the United States is 171 per 10,000 people.
I mean the proportion of professionals to the whole employees.
So the United States, the European Union and Japan, they have a higher figure than China.
So the gap in high-level youth talent will persist.
So I think this is why we welcome the global young professionals to come to China.
Now some say the picture right now is that the United States under President Donald Trump is saying to global talents We don't need you.
But China is saying we welcome you.
What is your take on this?
So I think it's currently right.
So, if we look at after the global financial crisis of 2008 and from like the Donald Trump first elected as the president of United States 2017, and we saw there is a wave of anti-globalization around the world and they go to self-close their doors to the outside, but China insists on opening up a policy.
So I think, if we look at the history from the end of World War II and we can look at very clearly, so the countries with top talent and will especially welcome the international professional talent have the upper hand in economic development.
So we, we believe the future will be dominated by those countries that best utilized their talent and global talent.
So as China increases the vote, it creates a talent more than ever.
So, in order to secure a future, we need to gather and utilize the global best talent.
So, I think this kindly shows our policy stance and also the image, the new image of China.
Now, it looks that flexibility is a characteristic of this K visa program of China.
So, in real practice, how can Chinese authorities ensure the quality of the talents attracted to China via this program?
And how can China persuade those top-notch talents to stay in this country for a longer-term career development?
Yes, so now the key visa program is issued to young foreign professionals, especially in science technology, engineering and mathematics.
And they must have a bachelor degree or above from a well-known, world-class universities or research institutes at their home or abroad.
So I think this actually is a visa program.
This is not a very brand new program.
So, if you look at the Hainan province, so like in July 2019 and the Hainan Province Free Trade Zone announced to open and the Chinese authorities already announced updated preferential policies that apply to the Hainan province.
So they facilitate employment and entrepreneurship for foreign university students.
So, for example, foreign students who have obtained a master or higher degree from Chinese universities can apply for a residency permanent of up to two years for innovation and entrepreneurship in Hainan with the recommendation of their affiliated universities.
So I think this is now, so we have much more experience to review this visa application program.
So I think this K program, just like you mentioned, we have to do at least two things.
On one hand, we have to have a much more practical review process.
But on the other hand and we also can encourage more international talent they can stay for their long-term career in China.
So for example, like Beijing is building like the international exchange center building, right?
So it's also trying to build a much more international friendly environment for foreign professionals.
So when we talk about this policy change for H-1B visa in the United States, we know talents from India are likely to be affected the most.
So if in the future we're going to see a scenario where more Indian talents leave the US for China or come directly to China from India, what would that entail for China-India relations?
So first of all, I think for the Indian talent goes to United States or go Canada or Britain and there is a very key reason for their language capacity and because they speak English so they can go Canada, United States.
So by now, I do not believe in a very short period there are many Indian talent will come to China.
But on the other hand, And I think first when more Indian talent coming to China, that will increase people-to-people exchange.
And that is well made for the Indians to better understand China and increase the people-to-people connection.
And I think in this sense, that will better provide more positive energy to the bilateral relations.
So the final question before we let you go, Professor Chi when China has a stronger capability in terms of attracting global talents, especially scientists or engineers, what will China bring to the rest of the world in return?
So I think definitely China will contribute more to the world.
So first is in the ideas aspect and that China welcome the global talent.
China still stick to opening up policy.
So that send a strong signal to the world, to other countries only opening up can make your countries achieve higher, continuous economic growth.
And, on the other hand, I think unappealed routine innovation, cooperation and youthful culture is driving China's next growth cycle.
So innovation and open cooperation may reshape our global identity.
And this is also will contribute to the world.
So when China, upgrade our industries and develop the new technologies and the innovation, the new science and technology, and that will bring the a new economic growth engine to the world as well.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Professor Qu Bo, Director of the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University.
That's all the time for this edition of World Today.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on our previous episodes.
You can download our podcast by searching World Today.
For further discussion, you can follow us on X at CGTN Radio.
I'm Dinghan in Beijing.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
