China gears up for its next development blueprint, the 15th Five -Year Plan, as President Xi Jinping calls for high -quality policymaking.
Meanwhile, a pro -economic data shows resilience under pressure, and Beijing pushes back against a U .S. restriction on Huawei's AI chips.
Welcome to Road Today, a news program with a different perspective.
I'm Geanna in Beijing.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching Road Today.
Let's begin our top story.
Each of China's five -year plan marks a chapter in the country's journey of development and transformation.
As 2025 wraps up the 14th five -year plan, Preparations are already underway for the next one.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling for sound, democratic, and law -based decision -making to guide the creation of China's next five -year plan, a key blueprint for national economic and social development from 2026 to 2030.
The plan is currently being drafted under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the highest decision -making body of the country's ruling party.
In the weeks ahead, authorities will begin collecting input from officials, experts, and the public through a variety of channels, part of efforts to ensure the plan is born inclusive and high quality.
To delve into the topic, let's have Professor Liu Bao -Cheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you very much. Professor, before we dive into the next 5 -year plan, let's first look back at the current one, the 14th 5 -year plan.
In the first half of this plan period, China's GDP surpassed 120 trillion yuan and per capita GDP reached the global average.
But this 5 -year plan has also faced unexpected challenges such as the COVID -19 pandemic and dramatic changes in international landscape.
So how would you characterize the overall performance of the 14th Five -Year Plan under these circumstances?
And what does it mean for China's past and future development?
You're right. As a matter of fact over the past five years in experiencing the 14th Five -Year Plan, China has experienced many exceptional circumstances including the COVID pandemic, the heightened geopolitical tensions, and the still ongoing global economic fragmentation.
Despite this hesitance, this five -year plan has delivered tangible progress over multiple fronts.
First, the Chinese economy has exhibited fundamental resilience since China has maintained a very stable macroeconomic policy.
Therefore, it outperformed the global average in its growth and recovery.
The industrial upgrading and digital economy has advanced very steadily together.
So second, the technological self -reliance has been further enhanced due to the Chinese accumulation of technological know -how and also facing the global upfront in terms of the technological obstruction to China.
And then given the very tough climate change objectives—so China has gone through a very rapid green transformation—that really leave far better room for the new technologies to emerge like the renewable energy ones, electrical vehicles, the solar panels.
So it has been a remarkable year against the exceptional challenges China has been facing, so we delivered the right homework.
Professor, we know in addition to aligning development goals for 2021 to 2025, the 14th 5 -year plan also sets a long -term vision for China.
It lays out a roadmap for China to basically achieve socialist modernization by 2035 through the implementation of these three successive five -year plans, the 14th, the 15th and the 16th.
So given that 15th five -year plan sits at this critical halfway point, how do you view its significance and what are the development priorities during this period?
What has been outstanding for the 14th five -year plan as compared to the previous ones, It not only, you know, delivered over the five -year plan in terms of the solid, the pillar work, but it also lay out the vision for 2035, which means it sets the major direction where China shall move forward in terms of social and economic development.
So the significance lies in that it is there to bridge China's development path towards the second Centennial goal, which is, by 2049, China shall achieve its modernization and move into the bracket of a developed economy, and where the key priorities can be identified in terms of technological innovation, in terms of the demographic transition, especially dealing with aged and declining population.
Then, as we said, the green and low carbon transformation has been painful but very successful.
So far, we even gave up some of the gross points in the economy just to utter in our commitment to international community in terms of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, policy and also it is there to deliver a holistic approach to people's quality of life.
So what is also remarkable is that China has implemented the common prosperity program by alleviating the hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and we continue to strengthen this achievement by the more of the technological and even monetary transfer to those on the of other regions, so that we do really achieve a socialist type of modernization.
Lastly, I think the national security has also been further enhanced, which is not only in the conventional format, but is transiting the arms and weapons, but also to address more of the food safety, the supply chain security, and also the digital and cyber security.
So these are really the significant parts that I can identify for this transitional period.
Professor, at a recent meeting, President Xi Jinping has addressed the importance of sound democratic and law -based decision -making to ensure the 15th Five -Year Plan is of high quality.
How do you interpret this requirement, and what does it tell us about China's approach to policy -making in the years ahead?
Well, for years, actually China implemented very flexible and pragmatic policies, where it has been very successful.
However, when Chinese economy growing more sophisticated, when China is getting more and more engaged with the rest of the world, we do need a higher predictability with increasing number of modest stakeholders in the Chinese social and economic performance.
so therefore a sound decision -making process supported by the enhanced governance capacity is something that is highly required in order to move China further forward along its development paths and also interaction with the rest of the world.
So the democratic decision -making is there to further enhance the spirit of the Chinese holistic or the all -process democracy, which is there to gather more of the participation of stakeholders from workers to normal citizens to industries to local governments, etc., so that we can make not only make sound decisions but also it is there to ensure those stakeholders will be the implementers for the successful operation of any major decisions.
So, the law -based one is something that is a major shift from a policy -driven decision -making process because law is more stable, it has more predictability, and also prevents the ad hoc reaction towards some contingencies.
This is a way that China needs to go further over the next five -year plan so that all people are able to see higher level of transparency in their behavior against the law and for the law.
Professor President Xi also emphasized the need to adapt to changing circumstances and focus on strategic priorities.
So, in your view, building on the foundation laid during the fourteenth five -year plan, how can China use the certainty of its own development to cope with the rising global uncertainties today?
When now every country has been prioritizing on security, it means the world is getting more recommended and China is no exception.
However, we always say that the real security lies your own national strengths.
So when you get stronger and when you get better intertwined and interdependent with the rest of the world, you feel better secured instead of closing the door and simply raise the expenses on building arms or building defenses.
So this is a difficult path for China to move forward because there have been a number of controversies going on, as we are looking at short -term security or we are looking at long -term prosperity.
So I think President Xi has been very clear in that we are going forward with long -term prosperity by building better relationship with the rest of the world by further opening the Chinese door.
And also, we are also teaming up with global community, particularly with the global south.
In the collective efforts for a fair and just the global governance and domestically, we are also there to unify the basic ideology that all the Chinese people, and also we deal with more of the new level of or new quality productivity so that people do feel the benefit so that they will be able to embrace more voluntarily with the government directives in terms of productivity, in terms of the division of social wealth, and also in terms of the technological innovation.
Speaking of opening our door to others, China's five -year plan are not only growth target many believe they also serve as blueprints for a reform.
So how will the 15th plan advance the goals of the next round of comprehensive reforms?
Well in terms of the economy I think every country will face two issues.
How to grow the economy and how to divide the cake of economic growth.
So China is their first focus still on growing the Chinese economy so that the cake gets larger, and everybody theoretically could get a fair and larger share.
So in this way, in terms of distribution, China continues to maintain its fiscal, monetary, and also tax policies to move towards such an objective so that our local governments can really be able to operate on a sustainable basis and public services can be better increased in terms of equality, and also in terms of quality, and then all market players, be it state owned ones, private ones and foreign investment ones, are really welcome to operate on a fair and equal basis so that the vigor of economic growth and healthy competition can be further boosted to grow the Chinese economy, and more
of those hidden champions within those small and medium sized companies will be given further support so that we are able to move further into the frontier technology so that the Chinese technological competitiveness and also the people's entitlement to the new fruition of technology can be guaranteed.
Thanks Professor Liu for your insightful analysis.
That was Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and economics.
Coming up, Chinese authorities say the economy held firm in April, showing resilience amid pressure and maintaining steady growth.
This is Rogue Today.
Stay with us. Washington is tightening its containment of China's tech industry, launching a global crackdown on AI chips from Chinese firms, with Huawei squarely in the crosshairs.
What's fueling this escalation, and how might it reshape the global semiconductor landscape?
Join us on the chat lounge this week as we break down the power play's potential blowback and China's next move in this high -stakes silicon showdown.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts and on CGTN radio.
Welcome back to Road Today.
Let's continue with China's economy.
Chinese authorities say the economy has managed to withstand pressure and maintain steady growth in April.
Retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption strengths, expanded over 5%.
The value -added industrial output grew a little over 6%.
Officials also note, employment remained stable and new growth drivers gathered momentum.
So to help us unpack the numbers and what they mean for China's broader economic outlook, We're joined on the line by Mr. Liu Zhijin, Senior Fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Redmi University of China.
Thanks for joining us, Mr Liu.
Thank you. First of all, in April 2025, China's industrial output of major enterprises rose by 6 .1 % year -on -year, with high -tech manufacturing playing a significant role.
So against the backdrop of the tariff war launched by the United States, how has China's industrial sector offset external demand pressures, and which sectors have demonstrated a stronger resilience?
Yes, we should say that the 61 -percent increase in April shows that the resilience of China's industrial capacity.
As we know the industrial value -added output in April has really increased.
still under the pressure of the tariffs imposed by the American government.
So in this way, we show that the two points are to be noted.
First is the real resilience of the Chinese industrial value added in out of court is quite strong.
The secondary shows that the engineers and also the entrepreneurs in China are so dynamic and with the innovation capability that you face of the challenges and from the external conditions.
So we show that in the brighter future of this industry output especially in the value -added product shows in the high tech, in the other, AI and also in the new vehicle.
So in this way that we are very confident that in the future, still China's value added products and output will be well increased in the time to come.
The services production index also rose by 6 % in April, and retail sales of consumer goods grew by 5 .1 % year on year.
In contrast to the potential dampening effects of US tariff policies on exports, how has stable domestic demand served as the foundation for China's economic stability.
On the policy front, what further measures can be taken to unlock consumption potential amid growing external uncertainties today?
Yeah from the figure for 6%, at 5 .1 % for retail and for service industry, we can see a good potential of the two sections in China because as we know, Chinese the domestic market has a very strong resilience, very dynamic, as well as the potential is quite under further exploration.
So in this way, we have a really very bright future in surface industry because surface industry covers a lot of sections, whether it's AI or of information communications and also in the devices and the skatering and medical care, all these products really belong to the service industry.
Nowadays, we see also in the culture section, we see our movie expos have bloated a good result in the past month, So, we showed that all these can really promote, make more contributions for the growth of China's economy.
So further policy should be emphasized in the market access, for instance, where we should invite more foreign investors in this market to give more chances for foreign players in the China's service industry.
Secondly also we should open all this market margin for all these retailers, especially for those private companies, that have more freedom to play their role in developing the economy.
Because only by promoting the private sections that we will have more opportunities and chances to further strengthen our economy.
We also witnessed from January to April fixed asset investment rose by 4%, with high -tech manufacturing and infrastructure investment emerging as bright spots.
As the global trade environment tightens, how can these investment trends support China's strategy of prioritizing domestic circulation while maintaining synergy with external markets, especially compared to the reactive supply chain shifts prompted by US tariffs, what are the strategic advantages of China's current investment direction?
As you know, besides all the figures you have mentioned, for instance fixed -asset investment in the high -tech and innovation infrastructure sections, but also the other two information could be very useful to have a better understanding.
Now in April the net capital inflow increased by $60 billion, so this is a quite a good number.
And also from foreign investment, the net investment in China is around $10 billion.
So this figure can show from both sides or domestic fixed asset investment and also from foreign investment it really increased very strong.
that shows that the greater confidence from the foreign investors in China's market.
So, we should say that we have our advantages in systematic when they're in low conditions, and also from business environment for foreign investors, and actually from the policy sections, So, all these policies are around for the focus to service the industry and also the interest of the foreign investors.
This is very important to know that the foreign investors and the domestic market have a very stable expectation for the future.
So, a stable expectation is more important to increase to strengthen the confidence of the investors.
Let's shift gears to the realm of employment.
The surveyed urban unemployment rate in the first four months remained stable and on par with the same period back in 2024 last year.
What has helped stabilize employment despite the pressure from tariffs?
I think there are two things that the government has really done very well.
The first point is the Chinese government has been for a long time prepared to stimulate or to improve the environment of the employment conditions.
They have, we have already issued more policy to support the employment issue to give more financial support and job creation opportunities and to open more economic development circles to boost the employment.
So in this way that attract the many young generation or young graduates doing business for individually or join these companies for their own future.
This is the first point.
The second important thing is that they have more private companies that support this section.
As we know that in the past months, many private companies have enlarged their employment circle and range, increased the number of the employment.
So, that is why all this conditions and employment environment is really get well improved.
This is a very good signature that China's market is really getting well with a high rate of employment.
Thanks, Mr. Liu, for your insights and time.
That was Mr. Liu Zhicheng, senior fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.
Coming up, the Chinese foreign ministry pushes back against US restrictions, denouncing and justified curbs on Huawei's AI chips development.
You are listening to Road Today.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, You can download our podcast by searching word today.
We'll be back after a short break.
Welcome back to road today with Mika Anna in Beijing.
The Foreign Ministry said China has urged the United States to halt its unjustified crackdown on China's technology sector and artificial intelligence development.
Earlier, the U .S. Commerce Department issued a statement declaring that the use of Huawei ACENT chips violates U .S. export controls and warning the public about the potential consequences of using U .S. A .I.
chips to train Chinese A .I.
models. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said, the US overstratches the concept of national security, abuses export control measures, and long -arm jurisdiction, and imposes malicious restrictions on China's cheap products and the AI industry based on unfounded accusations.
So for more on this, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University.
So Yan, the US administration plans to lift a Biden curb on the export of artificial intelligence chips.
So tell us more about the US chip policy and why is the Trump administration making the change now?
Well, I think Biden's AI diffusion rule, as it's called, is to divide countries in the world into three tiers.
So the first tier countries includes 18 countries and Taiwan region, and these tier of countries do not have any sort of cap on how much they can import AI chips from the U .S., then you have about 120 countries that are grouped into tier 2 which has certain cap, has certain quantity restrictions in terms of how much they can import from the U .S. and they also have restrictions on the so -called computing powers for those tiered -up countries.
And then you have the third tier, which include the so -called country of concerns, so that mostly include China, Russia, North Korea and the like.
And so these countries simply don't have access to the U .S.'s AI chips.
So clearly this restriction is to try to in a way suppress China's technological development in the name of preserving the U .S.'s national security– protecting the U .S.'s national security.
So I think Trump's intention to lift some of the restrictions are mostly concerning these second tier countries.
The Department of Commerce basically said that by downgrading some of these countries into the so -called second tier countries, it undermines some of the diplomatic relationships.
And that's why they wanted to rewrite the rules and relax the restrictions through those certain tier countries.
But I think the other reason, the major reason is I think its business interest. So we know that by restricting, you know, the cap these countries can import from the US, it literally means less business opportunities for these big AI -related companies, like Nvidia, AMD, Intel and so on and so forth.
We know that companies like Nvidia, they really wanted to invest more and wanted to sell more chips to countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, and companies like AMD, they wanted to invest in data center in Malaysia.
So, for these businesses, they wanted to have more assets to be able to sell to these various countries, mostly in the Middle East, and also in the Asian economy and some European economies.
And so that's why, I think, there is a business interest that tries to relax the restrictions to the vast majority, so around 120 countries in the world.
And the U .S. is declaring that the use of Huawei amid chips violates the U .S. actual controls.
And it also warned the public about the potential consequence of using the US AI chips to train Chinese AI models.
How do you view this move and what's the purpose?
And could it actually backfire the US AI and chips development?
I think as you mentioned earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson basically put it very clearly that these kinds of restrictions are really the U .S., abusing the concept of national security, abusing the export control measures, and it's about long -term, long -arm jurisdictions.
And trying to impose restrictions and trying to suppress China's AI industry development.
And it's clear that this is the way the U .S. trying to restrict China's assets to these chips, which are important to develop AI technology.
And so, I think this is mostly motivated by the US's intention to, in a way, monopolize AI technology and trying to suppress China's development in that regard. And I think this is likely to backfire.
First of all, you already see a lot of US businesses, they oppose this rule.
Nvidia and AMD, as a matter of fact, already brought a case in terms of the restrictions of certain chips that they design and trying to export to China, they're basically saying all these restrictions undermine their own business opportunities.
Because according to Jensen Long, who is the CEO of Nividia, China is a big market, China consumes about one third of the global chips.
China's market is a $50 billion market.
And so by not allowing these companies to sell to the Chinese market, essentially what it means is that this cuts off their very important source of revenue.
This will some ways undermine their own R &D development because they don't have as much revenues to support that.
So all of this could backfire and undermine the commercial interests of these big businesses in the US and in a way also undermine their capability to continue to invest and develop AI technologies.
And how close do you think are China and the US on AI tech advancements currently?
Well I think it really depends on who you ask but I the consensus according to for example open AI CEO Sam Altman and also AMD CEO, when they testified in front of the congress just last week, they basically said the US is still having a small lead in the AI space, but China is really not far behind.
And if you listen to people like Lee Kai -Fu, who is the CEO of O1AI, he basically said, the US is probably have a very, very marginal lead about three months ahead of China's AI.
But that said, I think, given Deep Seed's launch, we see that the US as developers is able to use a fraction of the cost. They use about $5 .4 million trained, the Deep Seek, compared to the CHAT2BD 4 .0 that basically took 80 to 100 million dollars to train and OpenAI is basically running at five billion dollars budget a year.
I think that the Chinese developers simply show that they're able to use a much more cost -effective way to develop the technology and in many metrics in terms of the performances a deep sea is actually ahead of CHKGBT and last but not least we know that DeepSeq is an open source technology.
So that means it's going to be able to lend itself to a lot more other developers who are willing to utilize and integrate deep seek and allow the clients to build their own model based on the deep -seas open source AI technology.
So in that sense, I think China is really leading in many of the areas in AI.
Not to mention we know that China basically uncovered for 60 % of the AI patent.
So in that regard, I think even if the industry as best believe that the U .S still has a slight margin ahead, China is really not far behind at all.
And does the U .S want to decouple from China, especially in the tech sector, such as AI and semiconductors?
And do you think the world might be divided into two AI systems, which would eventually undermine the collective tax development?
Well, I think it does seem to have the intention for the United States to have the so -called strategic decoupling.
This is according to the Secretary of Treasury Scott Besant.
I think, you know, the U .S. at this point already found out that, you know, a massive wholesale decoupling from China is probably not feasible and it's also going to be very economically damaging.
And that's why they roll back on this massive tariff on Chinese imports, they rolled it back from 145 percent to now 30 percent because they understand with the very high tariff you essentially decouple from China, and that is not going to be feasible for the U .S. economy.
But on the technological side, I think there is intention, giving their own strategy, quote quote, strategic decoupling or earlier invite administration de -risking, I think they do seem to want to build some sort of firewall, keep China out from the US technologies when it comes to AI semiconductor.
But I think the strategy is very dubious.
Because I think, first of all, China has shown, even without the US advanced chips, China can still develop models like IBC, which is very highly competitive.
And China is also doubling down on the investments in AI.
And China has a lot of advantages, right?
In terms of the capital, China has the big funds, which now pretty much garner $80 billion to support the integrated circuit industry.
China has a lot of talent, 1 .4 million STEM graduates every year, which is four times the US' and China has this very comprehensive and very mature industrial production system that would allow for mass production and fabrication of chips and other, you know, hardwares.
And last but not least, I think there's also very large user case in China to apply AI in the various industries and very quickly monetize and help to boost the AI diffusion.
So all of these benefits, I think would allow China to compete with the U .S. Not to mention, I think, for the rest of the world, if they are more willing to adopt China's technology, which again, China's technology has a lot of appeals, right, when it comes to cost effectiveness, when it comes to open sources.
So in that sense, I think, you know, by not cooperating with China by seeing China as a, you know, strategic rivalry, I think the US misses out the chance or the opportunity to, you know, collectively develop AI technologies with China.
As a matter of fact, I think a lot of the leading edge AI research papers, mostly have Chinese co -authors.
So I think it's a missed opportunity for US and China to work together and develop AI further for the benefits of humankind.
Not to mention, I think when it comes to AI governance, you really require collective efforts on both sides.
That was Yang Lian, a professor of economics at Willamette University.
Let's move to the latest on the Russia -Ukraine conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he wants to eliminate the root causes of the war with Ukraine and insure Russia's security.
His remarks came after the first direct Russia -Ukraine peace talks in three years ended in less than two hours Friday.
The two sides have agreed to trade 1 ,000 prisoners of war each suit in what would be the biggest such exchange yet, but tensions remain high.
Ukraine's military said after the talk, Russia has launched its biggest drone attack on Ukraine since the full -scale conflict began in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for more sanctions to put pressure on Russia to make peace as quickly as possible.
So to talk more on this topic, let's have Dr. Cui Hongqian, professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Thanks for joining us, professor.
Hi. Professor of Putin says he wants to eliminate the root causes of the war with Ukraine and ensure Russia's security.
How do you interpret this statement?
From Russia's perspective, what are the main causes of this conflict?
I think President Putin just repeated the Russians' attitude, as we know, before the conflict with Ukraine.
I think according to understanding from Russia is firstly, they are kind of structural confrontations between Russia and the so -called Western countries in a format of NATO or some that.
So I think to deal with this Ukrainian issue, and it's just a case, but I think for the long term and also for a more comprehensive consideration, Russia tried to deal with maybe some difficult issue with Western countries, not only just with Ukraine.
And of course, as we know, It's a time for Russia to confirm its original projects when it started this military operation against Ukraine three years ago, which means there will be some demilitarization, and denitrification, and also neutralization of Ukraine.
shows, I think, a big difference between the purpose from Russian side and also American side.
Professor, after the peace talk, Ukraine's military reported that Russia launched its biggest drone attack since the conflict began in 2022.
What do you make of this military action and the timing of this?
What does it reflect about Russia's attitude toward the recent negotiations?
If the news from the Ukrainian side is true, I think it should be a major attitude from Russian side, to deal with this negotiation or peaceful solution.
I think according to Russia understanding, now it takes some advantage in the battlefield.
So it could be a very, very rational choice, for Russian side, to transfer this advantage the military into more advantages in diplomatic gaming.
So I think we can find out, even now all of the stakeholders are talking about the possibility of ceasefire, but I don't think that it's just for Russia to stop the conflict.
I think Russia tried to you know impose some more pressures against the Ukraine and Western countries and to force the other side to recognize the advantage of Russia and then to give some more space, give some more, I mean an advantage to Russia on the table of negotiation.
Zelensky has called for more sanctions to pressure Russia into making peace quickly while also expressing Ukraine's willingness to engage in dialogue with Russia in any form.
So, how do you understand Ukraine's current stance and demands?
I think at the recent time Ukraine's side changed its attitude and even tactics in the negotiation, especially considering of the purpose or maybe a style of President Trump on the American side, so always I think theWE government and the Ukraine try to play a role, Ukraine is willing to be part of the negotiation, but now the major problem is from Russia.
So once something happen that way, once the American side has this impression, I think the Ukraine could expect some more pressure from Washington against Moscow.
I think it's a very, very, I think it's a smart posture from Ukraine's side.
Professor, one last question.
Reactions to the recent talks have been mixed.
Russia and Turkey gave positive feedback, while many European leaders expressed disappointment accusing Russia of lacking sincerity and planning to coordinate their position with US President Donald Trump.
So how do you interpret these sharply different reactions?
And do you think Washington will align with Europe's stance today?
Certainly. I think each side, I mean, the Russian side and the Ukraine and the Europe on the other side, they do have very, very different expectation on what's a peaceful solution.
I think that according to the Russian understanding, once there is a negotiation, it's good.
It's good for Russia to deal with a pressure from Washington and the negotiation is just part of a tactic.
The negotiation itself is not a single purpose.
But I think for the European side and also Ukraine, indeed, they try to have another diplomatic, I mean, gaming against Russia, and to try to prove that the Russian side is not so necessary about the negotiation.
And it's also very I think very useful for the European side and Ukraine to convince Russia will take the major responsibility to stop any process of a peaceful solution.
So I think still this different understanding and a different narrative could be I think just a tactic for every side and to deal with this issue of peaceful negotiation.
Thanks, professor, for your insightful analysis.
That was Dr. Suihong Jian, professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Coming up, we'll take a look at the landmark summit between the U .K. and the EU.
This isRue Today. Stay tuned.
Hello, my name is Alessandro Golombievs -Peixeira.
I'm a professor of public policy management at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
I am a great listener of The Wall Today.
In my opinion, The Wall Today is one of the best China radio programs. In The Wall Today, we can get the best news and analysis in what is happening now in the world.
So please come to join us!
Welcome back to The Wall Today.
Britain and the European Union have reportedly made a breakthrough in bilateral talks, as Both sides search for common ground in a road marked by growing uncertainty.
In the lead -up to their landmark summit in London on Monday – the first of its kind since Brexit – British media say the two sides have agreed on a surprise 12 -year deal granting U -boats access to UK waters for fishing.
The summit is being seen as a pivotal moment in resetting UK and EU relations post -Brexit.
While progress has been noted, especially in joint defence projects and energy collaborations, some analysts caution that longstanding disagreements remain, particularly over regulatory standards and labour mobility.
So for more on this, my colleague Hsiao Wen spoke with Mike Basting, Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton in the UK.
A new fishing deal has been reached between the UK and the EU during the bilateral summit.
it allows EU fishing boats to access UK waters.
We know these agreements this fishing rights have long been a controversial issue in UK EU negotiations.
So what's your take on this new agreement and why the two sides have managed to strike a deal now?
It is very interesting.
As you say, it has been a long, long thorny issue typically with British fishing trawlers and access to that was the key issue.
EU trawlers access to UK fishing waters?
Well the first thing is it appears to be a 12 year deal so they appear to be very confident that this is a very very long -term breakthrough so that's quite encouraging.
It does appear from what we've seen so far the government have made quite significant concessions on EU trawlers access to UK fishing waters so that there could be quite an explosive reaction to that on the UK side.
Why have they done that Now, I think it's part of negotiation with other issues to do with youth mobility, security and defense.
So I think the UK are probably conceding in some areas in order to gain in others.
So it's all interrelated.
And I think that's why there's been a bit of a concession on the UK side when it comes to the EU trawlers fishing in UK waters.
You just mentioned, you know, there could also be agreements breached on allowing British travellers to use egades at European airports or cutting red tape on food exports and imports and establishing this youth mobility scheme with the EU.
So what do you think of these developments mean for British food exporters and also for broader people -to -people exchanges between the two sides?
I think they're very encouraging.
I think it's a it's sort of to leave the single European market in particular and then in effect set up all sorts of trade barriers.
So it's a real reset moment that the UK government are trying to instigate here.
So I think it's generally very encouraging for UK travel, for UK export and import, particularly when it comes to food, agriculture and the youth mobility scheme is perhaps most exciting of all where it appears that what's on the table is for 18 to 30 year olds, some sort of four year stay and movement across EU countries without visa restrictions and this has been a real headache and is a real headache for British people.
So I think generally it's encouraging for the UK economy and the integration of the UK economy with the EU economy where, let's face it, around 50 % of UK trade is done with the EU.
Another key highlight of this summit is the agreement to strengthen UK, EU, security and defence cooperation.
What impact do you think this will have on European security and sovereignty?
Well when it comes to European security, I think it will be a positive impact.
It looks as though the UK are going to have access to something like a £125bn defence budget and that they're going to security information and some sort of overarching security system in place, so I think it's very very positive.
When it comes to sovereignty, I'm not sure that it's going to have any impact at all.
I think this is a response largely to the situation between Russia and Ukraine and obviously Trump and his rhetoric as well, so there's a real need and a real determination on the European side to strengthen budgets and budget spending on defence and bring UK into that sort of around the table which I think is a good thing.
We talk about like all of these agreements reached at the summit from people -to -people exchanges to you know um this youth mobility scheme so would you say these agreements signals a strategic shift in the UK's approach towards building a closer ties with the EU after Brexit?
I think most definitely I what we have now is that regardless of your political persuasion, I think most will agree we have a very moderate, very open -minded Labour government which is seeking to reach agreements, not necessarily obviously reset completely and almost sort of overwrite or override the the Brexit referendum but certainly Bill Bridges more with our EU trading partners which again are the largest trading, it's the largest trading bloc that we deal with so yes I think it is a real strategic shift, the government has quite a large majority so this will probably continue for quite a few
years and I think most would agree it appears to be beneficial for the UK economy here, so much, much more.
Reaching out and finding agreement and compromise with the E .U. I think is on the cards for quite a few years to come.
One last question, Mike.
You probably have also noticed that the recent data shows that U .K.'s investors are now the second largest foreign holders of U .S. government debt.
Despite this ongoing U .S. tariffs, the U .K. has also managed to reach a deal with Washington.
In the meantime, the trade talks between the EU and the US remains in limbo.
So how do you see this growing UK -US relationship affecting the UK's ties with the EU?
And also, how can maybe UK balance its trade and diplomatic relations between the both sides?
Well, it could be a balancing act.
I mean, there could be an issue here on the EU side.
I don't think it necessarily will be.
I think the EU and the US relationship will be held sort of separately to the EU and the UK.
So I think I don't think the EU will be affected too much by any UK US trade deals.
Again, that was good news recently announced by the Prime Minister that the UK and the US have come to some sort of agreement.
I think the US realised that the UK is perhaps a special partner in Europe historically, and the UK realised that why we rely much more on EU for trade the US is still a very, very important market.
So I think that's behind the investment.
So I think UK and US relations are very healthy.
And if anything, that could be a positive knock on effect with the EU and the US as well.
So I think this is, again, quite a positive thing and not necessarily threatening any UK and EU deals and relationships.
I don't see why all of these can't really go positively hand in hand.
So I think generally good news for the UK economy.
The European economy and obviously a positive effect with the world economy.
That was Mike Bultstein, senior lecturer at the University of Southampton in the UK.
That's all the time for this edition of word today.
I'm good and I'm Beijing.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
