South Korea says it will spare no effort to strengthen ties with China.
Where are Beijing-Seoul relations headed next?
For the first time ever, renewable power has overtaken coal and China is leading the charge.
What does this mean for the global energy future, and how will China's low-altitude economy take shape and unfold in the coming years?
Welcome to Road Today, a news program with a different perspective.
I'm Ge'anna in Beijing.
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Our top story.
Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers have expressed readiness to strengthen mutual trust and deepen cooperation.
In a phone call on Tuesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyon said Seoul values its ties with Beijing and will spare no effort to boost its growth.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is willing to work with South Korea to enhance collaboration and contribute to regional peace and prosperity.
With both countries set to host the APAC Economic Leaders' Meeting this year and next.
He called for joint efforts to uphold free trade and advance regional integration.
To delve into this.
Joining us on the line is Dr Rong Ying, chair professor at the School of International Studies at Sichuan University.
Professor, during the phone call, Zhou said you would do your utmost to develop ties with China.
That's quite a rare expression in diplomacy, right?
How do you read into that?
Well, it is true, I think, for South Korea, for such a high-ranking sort of official, the foreign ministers, to speak about the relationship with China by using such an extraordinary word.
I think, but it also reflects the reality and also South Korea's new government, the importance that attached to China.
As a matter of fact, the past few months we have seen a very intensified, continued efforts by South Korean government towards China, by sending special envoys and also, of course, sending the foreign minister himself to China and also, for this time, the phone conversation.
This is largely because, first and foremost, South Korea, the new government, attached importance to the relationship.
But the most important that I see, they have a very important agenda, diplomatic agenda.
That is, by the end of this month they'll be hosting the IPEC meeting.
They're thinking of inviting and bringing in the Chinese head of state for a meeting.
So that is very much, I think, a gesture.
But, more importantly, I think this also reflects the reality where the importance of China, or the importance of the relationship with China, has now developed to a stage where the foreign minister himself, in his composition, has to express in such a strong or explicit way to highlight the importance that South Korea attached to China.
As you said, this sounds very different from the stance under former President Yun Suk-hyo.
Then, when talking about Li Jianmin's government's China policy today, what does that tell us about South Korea's position in today's complicated regional environment?
It's a great question.
I think, on the one hand, South Korea has always tried to be, be it the new government or the previous government, to have a strikeout kind of a balance.
The fact that South Korea, they always say they are situated in the middle of the several major powers.
So major power relationship or major power diplomacy has also been very much important.
Unfortunately, the previous government and the Yong's seems that has lost that balance by going too far, a deviation from the balanced approach towards China, particularly on the most sensitive or important issue of bilateral, for the question of Taiwan and others and most importantly, I think, on how its relationship with the United States, the bilateral sort of bilateral military alliance, and what will be the role and the functions in China.
So I think the previous government has already made mistakes.
So this time at least, that there's a kind of indication or effort to show that This government is going to be different.
This government has a different agenda and a different approach.
After all, I think it came with a new, so-called new idea to be a kind of a pragmatic diplomacy based on national interest, which is fine.
I think we'll see how it will work out.
Professor, another development that's drawn attention recently involves the American forces in South Korea.
A report suggests Washington is seeking to expand the missions role from deterring North Korea to also deterring China.
This has triggered a strong concern in Seoul.
President Lee Jae-moon has publicly voiced dissatisfaction, stressing that South Korea should have its own defense strategy instead of just following the US lead.
So how do you see his approach to Washington?
And does this signal a move toward a more autonomous foreign and security policy in the country?
Again, that's a very great question.
Certainly, I think the clarification or the statement by the president himself means a lot in terms of sending a strong, correct signal towards China, towards the region.
So this statement is good.
This is, of course, very much a response to a public hearing.
It's in a hearing at the U.S.
Congress by the designated Assistant Secretary of War when he talked about the capability of South Korea and the possibility of using that capability for so-called deterring China.
I think the fact that President Lee himself came up with a statement clarifying that our voices of dissatisfaction send a very right signal that South Korea, the new government, wanted to pursue policy or strategy that in line with its thinking, but most importantly, want to show at the sovereign state South Korea wanted to show that they should manage well their relationship.
And its alignment, the military alignment with the United States is not meant, aimed against China.
And I only hope that the new government go one further by saying that it would also help to contribute to the regional peace and stability.
So this is very much a strong clarification, strong statement.
And it also tells a lot about the new government position on its relationship with China, with the United States.
Professor speaking of China during the call, Wang Yi stressed that China values its relations with South Korea and hopes to build more trust, cut through distractions and deepen cooperation for regional peace and prosperity.
Then from China's messaging, how do you interpret Beijing's current approach to Seoul?
Yeah, I think from Chinese positions and I think also our policies towards South Korea has always been consistent and positive.
First and foremost, we always view South Korea as a very important and close neighbor which cannot move away.
So a stable, steady relationship with South Korea serves the interests of the two sides.
And secondly, I think there are huge potentialities the economic trade and others, and then people to people in the cultural areas.
Again, a very strong message for the new government.
And thirdly, I think, as the region and the world as a whole undergoing dramatic changes, collaboration and coordination, our close consultation between China and South Korea, are very much important.
This is very much so in the context where China and South Korea are going to host the APEC meeting summit for this year, South Korea and the next year China.
So again on trade, on regional integration.
Regional cooperation on this issue is also very much important.
I think China's policy has always been positive consistent, and it is up to the new government of South Korea to learn the good lessons and make sure to work together with China to ensure that the relationship will back to the right track and, more importantly, it will be stable and steady in the years ahead.
Professor, we know economic ties have always been a key pillar of China-South Korea relations.
China has been South Korea's biggest trading partner for years, while South Korea plays an important role in China's investment and tech cooperation.
With the ties stabilizing and warming up, how much room do you think there is for the two economies to grow together again?
Yeah, that is again a very important area where China and South Korea should continue to work closely in the years ahead.
We know that China and South Korea are very close trade partners.
Practical cooperation has been going on for so many years, particularly since the normalization or since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
And I think now South Korea and China.
The trade what we are talking about is 320 something billion US dollars, quite a lot.
And also talking about institutional arrangements in terms of trade investment between the 10 years ago, I think the two sides as a free trade agreement and also I think, at the regional level, China and the South Korea are very important partners with rcps and others.
So a stable relationship certainly provides as kind of political sort of background support, but most importantly we see that Practical corporate trading investment has benefit.
Looking ahead, there are some new challenges, emerging challenges, but I think with the stabilization of the relationship and with the shift or the transformation of the economic structure and economic development approach both in China and South Korea, there are more opportunities, more potentialities.
And if with a stable political relationship, I think the two sides, by working together, can explore more areas of high tech, digital trade and others.
But of course, that would be very much based on the political relationship.
And the potentialities can only be fully sort of explored when political relationship is stable.
Professor, one last question.
The South Korean foreign minister also touched on the issue of Korean Peninsula.
We know Chinese Premier Li Qian is visiting DPRK this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea.
So how do you see China's role in the current dynamics on the peninsula?
I think China is a very much important player in terms of promoting, stabilizing their relationship on the peninsula and for the region at large.
I think, as we have seen that the last few months, or last particularly, i think in the wake of the commemoration military parade and others, so china and north korea high-level exchanges picking up.
We have just had the very important visit of the foreign minister from north korea and it has been already announced that premier lee chang is going to again visit north korea to participate.
That also commemoration of the Workers' Party.
That's been a tradition as we have seen.
So I think the relationship with DPRK and also with South Korea are going to be sort of developed according to its own sort of merits or the own sort of logic.
But the most important thing is that China has very much committed with North Korea and I think, as we have discussed with South Korea, that we're working together to promote a stable, peaceful region.
And, last but not least, I think the continued strength and communication strategies with both sides will also very much help China to play such kind of role as a stabilizer, as a promoting political settlement of the issues, of the questions that are facing the peninsula as a whole.
Thanks, Professor.
Appreciate your take on this.
That was Dr Rong Ying Chair, Professor at the School of International Studies at Sichuan University.
More to come, China drives historic global energy pivot as renewables overtake coal.
This is World Today.
Stay with us.
Welcome back to road.
Today, for the first time on record, global renewable power generation has surpassed a call, a milestone, driven largely by china's clean energy boom.
According to energy think tank amber, china was the main engine of this shift, adding more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined.
In just the first half of this year, China accounted for 50 of global solar growth and over 80 of the increase in wind power generation, underscoring its leading role in the global energy transition.
For more on the report and what it means for the global renewable energy landscape, let's bring in Andy Mock, tech analyst and senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
Andy Amber's new analysis says renewables beat coal in the first half of this year and China drove most of that growth about 50 of global solar growth and 82 of wind.
What's the secret sauce here?
Is this just a skill, or is the industrial policy or whole chain construction playing a bigger role here?
Well, Guyana, I see two main drivers here.
So, first of all, China is an enormous country 14 billion people, the largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity terms.
So whatever China does domestically is going to be felt globally.
And the Chinese government, of course, is committed to environmental sustainability.
So I think this is one factor.
The second factor is when we look at what is driving this globally, not just in china.
It is the incredibly cost effective provision of solar from china that makes this possible.
So, for example, we look at solar pv, it's about 43 cents per kilowatt hour, which is a bit more than 40 percent cheaper than the lowest cost fossil option.
So what this means is You know, you're India, you're some other country around the world.
When you have a choice just on a pure cost basis alone, put aside the environmental sustainability factors, makes it incredibly attractive to choose solar.
And again, I think this is quite a rebuke to the Western media narrative of Chinese overcapacity here being a negative thing.
Andy.
The report also suggests China met all its extra electricity demand with clean energy, while fossil generation fell about 2.
But the United States and Europe are seeing fossil use tick up.
How do you rate that split?
Are we looking at as someone put it China leads Western struggles pattern in the energy transition today.
I think you know these are three countries or regions that are pursuing very, very different strategies.
So China, of course.
It's very clear that environmental sustainability alignment with multilateral organizations like the United Nations is very important.
So that's China.
With the United States, we see, under the Trump administration, taking almost the exact opposite path, in that they, by and large, are rejecting a more sustainable option and really are doubling down on fossil fuels.
So I think it's more of a strategic choice versus any sort of capacity issue.
I think Europe is maybe somewhere in between.
And I think the impulse is towards greater sustainability.
But there are structural challenges, including cost issues, that might make it more difficult for them to act on what they would prefer to do.
So I would not necessarily put the US and Europe in the same bucket here.
Because while the the phenomenon or the observable results might be the same.
I think the reasons for them are different.
And again, I think China really stands out here in that it does have not only the political will, but can also realize the economic benefits of adopting more sustainable energy solutions.
Andy.
China is moving from building capacity to exporting technology with better quality, but it still faces some challenges.
For example, squeezed profits for related firms and reliance on imported battery inputs.
How do you see China handling these challenges today?
Yeah, so that's such an interesting question, Anna.
The reality is a little bit more complex.
When we look at the externalities, if we use this economic concept, It certainly is delivering enormous benefits, not just environmental benefits, but economic benefits to Chinese businesses, Chinese families that can purchase high quality, inexpensive solar energy solutions.
And of course we were just talking about the impact on the world.
And even a place like India, which produces its own energy, solar panels also but even with 40 tariffs, buys a lot from china because the chinese alternatives are also very, very cost effective.
So you kind of see the exact opposite here.
Where typically private companies benefit, they profit by causing negative externalities pollution, etc.
Here it's a little bit at least on the surface the exact opposite, in that these companies may not be as profitable as they would like, and some of them certainly are really struggling, but they are creating all of these positive externalities.
So I think it is really where you stand depends on where you sit.
At the same time, I would also say the way we think about it from an accounting perspective.
It might not be quite as bad a situation as is commonly reported in the Western media.
Andy, we also see policy barriers today worldwide, such as the US IRAs de-risking or de-China provisions and the EU raising export costs through its carbon border adjustment mechanism.
Even as those markets still account for a large share of incremental demand.
Can Chinese firms or, you know, firms from, like you said, China or India, those emerging economies, escape these grades through overseas production and diversification?
And is that a sustainable solution?
I think we have to see, you know, these are largely political obstacles.
You know, we see in the US this is typically couched as in national security terms, this decoupling, de-risking from China.
But at the same time, I think we are also seeing countervailing pressures building in the United States.
Let me stick with the US for a second in that.
Everything from TikTok because you know there are, you know, millions and millions, tens of millions, maybe more than 100 million people, consumers of TikTok that really love it.
But there's also a very significant number of Americans that earn their livelihood from TikTok.
So these are not people that are ideological supporters of China, but very, very practical reasons support TikTok or ByteDance, a Chinese company.
Similarly, I think, as we are seeing around the world, this recognition that Chinese EVs are not only highly cost-effective but safe well-designed, wonderful features that everyone wants Americans start asking why can't we have these inexpensive, high quality electric vehicles?
So I think this political question you know it's hard to say how it will ultimately turn out, but my hope is that ultimately common sense will prevail And Americans can benefit from solar panels, electric vehicles, other things that are good for the environment and good for consumers and businesses in the United States.
If we look at the rest of the world, I think it's similar, but perhaps not to such an extreme degree, because I think places like India, like the EU, don't really see it in this Manichean black and white good versus evil kind of framing.
And they see it maybe with a greater degree of calibration.
So we see with the EU, for example, quotas plus tariffs when volume exceeds certain quotas.
And I think here there's room for discussion and over time I think we will see a greater openness and receptiveness to resolving these problems.
Then finally, looking to 2030, if renewables keep growing fast and China stays a big player, what would you say are the make or break factors over the next five years in this sector?
And can the big blocks find a new balance of competition and cooperation that actually speeds up decarbonization?
Well, I think this trend is pretty hard to stop or even slow down.
I mean a lot of these sectors solar batteries, electric vehicles, etc.
Really benefit from scale.
So we see, again, Chinese companies leading here in terms of volume.
In terms of technological innovation, we also see many Chinese firms at the frontier here.
So when we combine both of those with a again very large domestic market government support, it seems hard to imagine a set of circumstances that may stop or slow this down.
But again, as we touched on, you know, these political obstacles, challenges are very hard to say.
You know, they could change overnight.
A political leader can say, oh, I've completely changed my mind, right?
We should do the exact opposite.
And that certainly is possible.
But at the same time we may also see this continue far beyond what would be rational or good for the people of any particular country.
So I think, whatever happens politically in other countries, I think the global trend towards greater environmental sustainability will continue, largely driven by Chinese companies.
Thanks, Andy, for your insightful analysis.
That was Andy Mock, tech analyst and senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
Up next, we'll explore the future of China's fast-rising low-altitude economy.
This is Road Today.
We'll be back.
Welcome back to Road Today.
The low-altitude economies are flying high in China.
Authorities have introduced policy support, including establishing a low-altitude economy department and introducing related university majors.
How will China's low-altitude economy take shape and unfold in the coming years?
I earlier talked with Yang Chunsheng, Senior Vice President of Aviation Industry Corporation of China International.
Dr Zhang Fan, Associate Professor of Astronomy Department of Beijing Normal University, Dr Zhao Mi.
Senior research followed with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Let's start with a pivotal question.
Is the low altitude economy the next big thing, not just for China, but for the world?
What kind of impact would it have on the global economic landscape?
Mr. Yang, would you like to start?
Okay, well, first of all, for the low-attitude economy, so-called, in China, everybody thinks it's new, but in fact, worldwide, it's an old factor.
I never see the low attitude in other countries, but their general aviation.
So basically, low-attitude economy relating to the general aviation.
I know the low-attitude economy in China means, But worldwide we just relate to the general aviation.
So they are equal to.
This idea has been around for some time indeed.
Professor John, what's your take?
Is the low altitude economy the next big thing?
Right.
Yeah.
A lot of people are skeptical because they think it's renaming things.
Renaming things also presents a new vision that people have.
I think, if it's done properly, it has the potential to be disruptive to one of the pillars of the economic activities, which means transport and logistics.
The major problems we have right now is the road space on land is really limited.
But if you go into low altitude space, then first of all, it's three dimensional.
You can cut it into different height layers and then there's no buildings in there.
It's almost like a multi-story highway, but covering all spaces.
So the capacity is enormous.
And then also there's the issue on the ground.
When people talk about autonomous driving, they envision this future where the traffic lights wouldn't be necessary.
Old cars would know where each other's are.
They just zoom past each other, arrange themselves to avoid collisions.
It's really difficult to do on the ground when you have scooters running around rather crazily.
But in the low altitude space where legacy vehicles are far fewer all the new drones and stuff they're smart.
Then it's a lot easier to achieve that vision.
So you have higher sort of flow rate, higher flow efficiency as well, in addition to just physical capacity.
Which means combining these two factors, you could potentially increase the efficiency of the transportation and logistics sectors quite tremendously.
So that I think, would give you not just the mere economy in terms of the direct benefits, but also sort of secondary as an enabler.
It would give you more benefits than the people have already calculated, I think.
This marks a transformative development that challenges conventional perceptions.
Professor Zhou, what's your take?
In what ways, in your opinion, will this new concept or the low altitude economy reshape the global market in the near future?
Yeah, actually, I think it's a kind of a very new ideas kind of raised by Chinese government.
Maybe in the other countries, they already have similar things, but it's not like just a sector.
In China.
When we are trying to do something to encourage the development of a sector, we are not only trying to focus on the real patterns of these industries, but also trying to create our environment.
So when we're talking about the low attitude economy, I mean it's not only about the traditional ways of doing the aviation and also to like to be used in the farms or in the other kind of investigations.
But it's also having some new characteristics.
The first one is the digitalization.
The digitalization is one of these new characteristics that we can expect in the future, which is maybe coming from other countries, but we are having more circumstances to develop here in China and it will be leading the world.
And the second is intelligent.
We know that some companies are using the auto driving and how to piloting.
And it is really a big difference as compared with the past because there are so many vehicles.
If we can expect in the future, it's not only about the cargoes, but also about possible the humans.
So the safety and security is one of the priorities we have to deal with.
So we may need new tools and new software to control this.
And the third one is about the interconnections.
If we are going to develop the low-attitude economies not only just in one country, maybe we will have more cross-border transportation and logistics.
And that is definitely very important for us to do more coordination with other governments and administrations.
Indeed, the low altitude economy holds the promise of becoming a new economic engine, driving transformation across industries and expanding markets, creating jobs, etc.
And I think the establishment of the low altitude department in China is undoubtedly a pivotal move to align with such a trend and accelerate the growth of the low altitude economy.
And we know this department serves as a vital bridge, connecting policy with practice and aligning supply with demand.
So with that, let's dive in China's policy layout for this low altitude economy.
So first of all, Professor Zhou, what progress has China's low altitude economy achieved so far?
And why the establishment of such a department happening at this particular time?
Yeah, you might understand that it's coming from the two ends.
The first one is from the the market.
Maybe we know that some companies are really good ones like DJI and also some other companies.
They are doing much good in the producing those drones and also a lot of practices and this kind of products designed by the market.
And it started to develop in the past several years or even decades.
And the second N is from the government.
We know that the central government of China is trying to to boom this low attitude economies by introducing some policies, or trying to set up or establish a certain cities, to trying to do more experiment.
And we can trying to do a lot of cooperation based on these two ends.
And if we are talking about you know the new things, I think that the government is sending some very clear signal that we are going to support the development of this sector and it's very, very encouraging for the.
You know a lot of related supply chains and industries to do with this.
You know those sectors.
Mr. Yang, what core policy signals does this move send in your view?
I still talk about the low attitude economy.
We're still back to the history of the general aviation.
Back to 15 years ago.
That time, a lot of the people noticed that China's economy grew very, very fast.
From number seven, it already came to number two.
So it's quite close to the U.S. number one.
So the people compared the two countries, Now the GDP, now the back to other circles like the general aviation is one of them.
Then people noticed the two countries.
There are big, big difference between the general aviation regarding the number of the aircraft, regarding to the number of airports.
So the big difference means big opportunity for China.
So that time, general aviation has become quite a hot topic for the people.
A lot of the companies evolved to push to develop the general aviation.
However, 15 years have passed.
That made quite little progress or little achievement for them.
For them.
The government noticed that one must have special policies to see why the general aviation cannot develop so fast like the GDP in China compared to the US.
The general aviation sector is so big.
That's why it's happening of the low-edge economy department set up.
So I think it's a good push to make such an economy develop faster and healthier.
And then joining from the past experiences with supporting emerging industries like electric vehicles, for example, what differentiated measures might the Low Altitude Department adopt to accelerate the growth of this sector?
Professor Zhang.
Right.
One thing is regulation really has been more important In this airspace things.
The military coordination thing I mentioned earlier, that's one vital difference.
Another thing is with this new mode of the economy, low altitude economy the local government are very enthusiastic.
I think partly because you know it's not just fostering a new industry, but also it could provide an additional revenue stream for local governments.
You know, you can rent out some airspace now.
Rather than just top-down, as in the past perhaps, there's more of a bottom-up push as well.
So it's quite interesting because the bottom-up approach would relay more of the on-the-ground demands by those entrepreneurs, by people who actually work on the front line, and push that into the commission's radar.
I think enabling this sort of two-way flow of information is one of the major new things that's happening with this particular drive.
Professor Zhou, what's your take?
What new mechanisms or collaborative models between departments can we expect for coordinating low altitude economic policies?
Yeah, I think that as I mentioned, the first one is that the signal is very important.
Like we know we have five-year plans for each five-year period.
If we are going to support this low attitude economy, we may include that in the 15th five-year plans.
And it is really our general ideas for the continuously stable environment for the next five years.
And the second i think that we should try to look at from two sides.
The first one is by the supply side.
So if we are going to develop the low altitude economy, how can we encourage the companies to, to build the flying objects like the helicopter, like the drones and trying to make that more efficient?
So we do have, we do need a lot of supply of that and that is definitely one of the priority.
We can encourage not only the manufacturer but also the parts of those products and trying to be connected in the supply chains, to have us very strong capabilities for of producing those flying objects and also i mean that is different.
Another different thing is about the software.
We need to develop the software's to control all those flying objects and to monitor them to avoid any kind of dangers that will occur during this development.
And the third one, I think that is also important, that is the market.
So if we are going to make it more sustainable, we need the market to believe that we do have enough demand for those projects.
So I think that in China we have so many big cities, super big cities, and they do need a lot of those you know supply, because that logistics is becoming one of the priorities for the high valued products and also some of the transfer of the people.
So we do need to have that market.
And that is not only about the possibilities from the technology, but also about the people's expectations and their willingness of whether they want to use that.
Because if we are able to provide the companies with enough demand, I mean the market will be good enough for sustainable development.
So I think that is.
These are the three aspects we may expect from the established of this new department.
Mr yang, how do you foresee futuristic scenarios like flying cars or drone deliveries becoming a common part of daily life by 2030?
Yeah, there's no doubt for the market demand, for the low attitude.
Everything exists in china.
I can see that there are two major aspect sectors for such a demand.
First one is professional requirement, like the rescue, like the electricity cruiser.
It's quite professional.
It needs a professional maneuver for those, whatever, flying vehicles.
The second one is civil purpose utilization, like the cargo transportation, like the cargo delivery and even for just an air taxi.
However, for the civil locations, the priority is making sure the safety.
And for safety, not only for technical perspective, but it's another one, regulations.
Must make sure whatever equipment used must be tested, must be approved.
But for the low attitude of flying, there are a few aspects for the safety.
First one is for the event, is the battery is a challenge for such a flight.
Second one is how can make sure the traffic in the sky is regulated, avoid the sky collision.
Last one is hard landing.
Everybody knows this will be caused the accident.
So for me, the market demand is one side, but also make sure the safety for our society, for the flying, for the people.
Professor joe, in your view, what are the main challenges and issues facing the development of china's low altitude economy today?
Well, the first one is that we have discussed about the traffic.
How can we have enough room or space for the development of this sector?
I think that is a kind of physical space and also some of the virtual space, because we are talking about the control of those products.
I think that is definitely one of the challenges we have to deal with, because it's not only about the density of the signals, about the 5G or even, in the next generation, the 6G network, but also about the response.
How can we deal with the situation in a very short term of the interval that is quite different compared with the long distance aviation.
You do need a lot of security.
I mean, it's not about only one source of the signal, but we do have to have some redundancy, and that is important.
And second, The challenge is coming from the materials.
I know that in the world we're having so many competition between China, United States and also from different countries.
So some countries are trying to protect their technology not to be landed or to be used by China, by Chinese companies.
And that is definitely some barriers to stop the wider use of those technology in a much sound market.
And the third one is about the people.
How can we accept this new method of transportations or logistics that do need a lot of proof?
Even if you're looking at some of the, you know, invention of the cars and also the trains.
There are so many accidents.
People do have to believe that they can do that because that is safe, or even safer compared with when they're moving on the road.
And the fourth one is how can we integrate these new methods with traditional ones?
Like how can we connect to the different transportations and how can we make some space in a very natural and very crowded cities?
So how can we make all these things happen?
It is not just to create something from scratch.
It is about how can we integrate one thing into another, into a system.
So all these things are the challenges I think that we have to address.
Maybe not at all, but we should try to deal with them one by one.
They do need some effort.
Professor John.
Professor John mentioned the limited airspace resources that have long been a bottleneck for many countries, I think, when they're facing the development of this low altitude economy.
How do you assess such a challenge and how can we better allocate low altitude airspace to meet growing flight demands?
Right.
There's obviously a lot of concerns, not just safety of the gliding with existing aircraft and stuff like that.
There's also privacy issue and other things regarding having drones, and even people sitting in them, flying all over the place, right.
You know, regulation here really is the key.
For example, if I have a house and I just don't want anybody to fly near me above my house's airspace, then there's no such thing as low altitude economy anymore, right?
But on the other hand, if the government just says I can't object to that, then my privacy will be compromised.
Then there's a major problem uproar from the general population.
So some kind of regulation going into enforcing what the drones can and cannot do, cannot see, you know, if people sitting in there you know they're flying past people's windows and stuff.
And that sort of thing needs to happen to make the airspace really available and make people feel comfortable with it.
And this is a hard and arduous process of going back and forth.
There's going to be a pushback from the general population, and then the regulatory body would have to address the concerns in a way that also leaves enough free room for the development of the industry.
So this is another thing that really needs to happen before 2030 if you really need air services, air taxis, to take off everywhere.
Domestic challenges like regulatory upgrades and airspace allocation are essential, but challenges abroad cannot be overlooked either.
Given the high demand for technological innovation in the low-altitude economy and reliance on important components like chips, Professor Zhang, how can we ensure the self-sufficiency of key parts for low-altitude vehicles to address potential risks of technological blockades?
Right.
So there are two different types of chips.
So the chips that goes into the vehicles themselves, the control chips, the power regulator chips, those are not so much of a problem.
China not only can produce them because of the US action is actually backfiring on them now.
China had to develop them really rapidly.
So now China is selling them into the international market at extremely competitive price, which is why the US had to impose their import restrictions on those chips.
So that's not a problem at all.
What could be a little bit of a problem is the high computing power AI chips, those chips that packs a lot of circuitry in a very small space.
So China is gradually catching up.
For example, the extreme UV light sources, China has that.
It's just reliability needs to be further improved.
And China is leveraging on smart packaging of the chips and different chip architectures to sort of circumvent the problem of the circuitry density.
And, most importantly, very recently.
So China has shown an ability to train AI large language models with very limited computing power.
So basically, it's smarter mathematics, smarter algorithms that enables China to train those models with fraction of the cost.
So the AI stuff is important for autonomous driving, which further feeds into the safety issue.
If you ever flown one of those drones.
Human control isn't that good, especially when there's wind and stuff.
But the AI chip is not a fundamental constriction.
I don't foresee the chip restrictions to be the most important restricting factors.
Mr. Yang, do you share the same stance with the United States tightening chip restrictions on China?
How do you see this impacting the development of low-altitude economy, especially in areas like advanced hardware and AI-driven systems that rely heavily on cutting-edge semiconductors in China?
I share the same view with Professor Zhang.
In fact, for the aviation industry, People think it's high technology, most advanced equipment.
In fact, it's not.
For aviation because safety is the priority, so we do not use the most advanced or most latest technology into the aviation transportation.
We must use a reliable, well-matured device to the aviation.
We do not use some of the one nanometers or three meters, even with 20 nanometers, is okay and for the electric device is also well matured.
Professor joe, what's your take on this?
Well, cheap restrictions place china low altitude economy industry at a disadvantaged position in the global market.
Yeah, i want to use one example to show you that, like the dji, they have been placed on the exports control list for quite a while And they have designed the best joints, I mean for the civil use in the world.
Even if the United States they do have the high-end chips, they did not produce any kind of comparable joints in this market.
So it's not just like who have the highest, the best chips, they can do, the best joints or flying vehicles in the world.
But on the other hand, I have to argue that maybe it is still possible, if we are able to produce the better chips, that we can reduce the cost and trying to improve the abilities and the performance of the vehicles.
So in my understanding that based on this logic, we still need a better performance of those chips.
Well, on the other hand, if you are looking at in the recent several years, China is increasing the abilities of producing the chips a lot because of the control of the United States, because of the restrictions of the US government.
So, on the other hand, I mean the Chinese government, Chinese market is responding to the practices of the United States by doing them their own the chips and also other development in my understanding that the cooperation is good, but without cooperation we can still be there.
We can try to find another way.
And maybe it is not as good as the first one, but maybe it is different.
Professor Zhou.
Speaking of Western countries, we know like the United States and Europe were early adopters of this concept of low altitude economy.
So how would you evaluate the development of these related sectors in Western technology powerhouses?
Well, they're looking at the most important airplane manufacturers, the Airbus and the Boeing.
They are the biggest one in the world.
So they're coming from not for the low altitude economy.
They're coming from the long distance of air transportation.
So I actually, when I was in United States to pay a visit, I can find that the airports are everywhere.
There are so many different kinds of vehicles, a lot of private jets or private airplanes.
So it's definitely flourishing.
But if we're talking about industries, I don't think that they have created a very good ecosystem to support the development of those economies based on the flying objects.
Maybe some kind of the billionaire or millionaire.
They do have their own airplanes, but when We are talking about the relations between the different parts, about the manufacturing of the propellers, about the manufacturing of engines, manufacturing of the different products, they are not so well connected and their efficiency haven't been improved a lot.
So if you're looking at china, i don't think that it is the same.
So we do have a lot of potentials to just overpass them, because we do have a systematical ways of planning the resources usage and we are having intentionally to use the technology and also the artificial intelligence or other technology, to improve the efficiency and trying to make it safer.
So, in my understanding, when we compare it with these two systems, I don't want to put them on the opposite position, but I would argue that the efficiency of development of the low altitude economy in China will be much faster than them.
Professor john, what are your thoughts on china's partnerships with other countries in developing the low altitude economy, especially its cooperation with nations in the global south?
Yeah it's, it's interesting that you mentioned global south, i think in these places where uh, the low altitude economy would really benefit the locals of development, There's a saying in China which means if you want to get rich, you need to build a road first.
You need to open up the transportation so the economy, so the goods and people can flow.
But the problem is global sauce.
When Europeans come out and colonize the world, they pick the best, most easily accessible places for themselves.
So those become the new world for the Western countries.
And then the rest are basically stuck in deserts rainforests, high mountains, where it's really difficult to build roads.
And China overcame this problem with a huge sacrifice.
And the other countries may not necessarily have the capacity for that.
At least some of the vital services, transportation and logistic needs can be replaced by the low altitude flying routes.
Then you lay some of the foundations for their development, for their economy to finally take off.
That were Yang Chunsheng, Senior Vice President of Aviation Industry Corporation of China International.
Dr. Zhang Fan, Associate Professor of Astronomy Department of Beijing Normal University.
Dr Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
That's all the time for this edition of World Today.
A quick recap of today's headlines.
Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers express willingness to deepen bilateral ties, and China drives a historic global energy pivot as renewables overtake coal.
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Hello, my name is Alessandro Golombievski Teixeira.
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