Hello and welcome to World Today!
I'm Zhao Yang. Coming up, China has unveiled new measures to boost consumer spending and foreign investment.
How effective are they in driving economic growth?
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Britain and co -chair a strategic dialogue between the two countries.
what can we expect.
Hamas is extending the upcoming hostage release, starting Israel's violation of the ceasefire agreement.
We take a closer look at the volatile situation.
China has unveiled measures to boost domestic consumption during a State Council executive meeting hosted by Premier Li Qian.
The meeting called for strong support to increase household incomes, promote reasonable wage growth, broaden property -related income channels, and enhance consumption capacities.
It also highlighted the importance of expanding consumption in the cultural, sport, and tourism sectors.
The meeting also urged more practical measures to stabilize and expand foreign investment.
For more, we are joined by Professor Liu Baochun, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at the University of International Business So first of all, how does boosting domestic consumption fit into China's broader economic vision?
Well, among the typical three pillars to drive the GDP growth, exports, investment and conception, in which the conception is taking a leadership role in boosting the Chinese economy, it seems that our government has also shift the gear from the investment -driven economy now into conception -driven economy.
This is because Chinese economy is going through a rapid transformation into a high -quality growth model, and meanwhile we also face some of the geopolitical uncertainties.
So therefore, shifting and also encouraging domestic conception is now being prioritized to enhance the Chinese resilience, and also the level of entitlement for people's livelihood, which is the core mission of the communist party leadership.
Well, the meeting caught for increasing household incomes and promoting wage growth, what specific measures do you think will be the most effective in achieving this?
I think there are short term strategy and that the fact is that by giving more of the fiscal stimulus package for the households conception.
for example, simply by providing coupons and also the test cuts for the videos and also the small and medium sized enterprises.
So definitely they're gonna spend more.
And then the wage gross, particularly by increasing the threshold of minimum wage can also help.
and then the labor market by by the protection of the what is today popularly known as the gig economy workers and also the subscription the conception, and this can really help, but ultimately I just see that again to encourage more of the private sector because they are the main provider of job opportunities so that they will create more job, more of the prospect for the increase of people's wage.
So these are really the automated solutions.
While the meeting emphasized expanding consumption in culture, sports and tourism, what opportunities do you see in these sectors, and how can they contribute to overall economic In terms of the cultural conception, there's increasing digital entertainment and also the online streaming.
Now the film is also getting more of the rapid growth.
The sports industry is a creative one like e -sports, fitness and some of the outdoor recreations.
They are also getting popularity and tourism.
The over the spring festival we see that many of those cultural relics do not only attract the domestic tourists, but also foreign tourists has also very much surged.
So the local governments and also the smaller businesses are also coming up to build the niche sectors like the cultural heritage experience and driving experience.
So these sectors really support the service sector expansion.
They create the job opportunity.
And also they gave people a lot more fun and even with delight.
Yeah, and also the snow and ice industry and inbound tourism were specifically mentioned during the meeting.
So, how do you think Jana can leverage its natural and cultural resources to attract both domestic and international tourists?
I think one is to expand the infrastructure and complete, well, completely upgrade some of the resources.
They need also to be more creative in the level of service, in the type of events, and also they need to engage in the promotion, and also sports education.
Because this is accessible very easily with online service.
Then to attract foreign tourists, the easing visa does really create a huge positive impact to attract foreign tourism into China, and then there can be a lot more of the promotion programs to showcase some of the unique regional traditions like Harbin's, the ice festival, And then to leverage AI on the virtual reality and some smart services.
That can also give people quite delight and inspiration start to be able to boost their tourist enthusiasm.
Well, the government is strengthening support for the consumer goods trade -in program.
How effective do you think this program is in stimulating demand for new products?
If the trading program for cars, the household appliances, and even mobile phones, and other electronics, they can boost the conception by giving people a fresh experience of buying more, and it can quickly expedite their change of different versions, different generations of the product.
Chinese government also aims to align with the boosting of such sort of conceptions for trading by offering more of the green products, so that they are able to reduce the environmentally unfriendly products and less efficient products.
So this, in turn, will give the supply side quite a boost because it is, after all, the conception that is there to drive further innovation and also to test how competitive different the providers will be.
So, I think another very important thing is really to build the consumer trust.
So, the consumer protection agencies can also be more readily available to give the consumers protection over their consumption rights and also to get some of the recourse for shorted products.
The meeting emphasized the need to accelerate the development of new consumption models so with advancements in technology and also with people's shifting mindsets.
What new consumption models do you believe are emerging in China?
And how might these reshape consumer behavior in the coming years?
Well, I think the trendsetter would be in two lines.
One is the green transformation.
The other is the digital transformation.
So this is there to converge the many of those are new operational models, like the real time interactive shopping through the live streaming e -commerce, the artificial intelligence and personalized shopping, so that the machines can really offer more of the recommendations to customize to people's individual needs and also to enhance the retail efficiency.
And, popularly now, there's also a subscription economy.
It grows in the digital content, the mobility services and also some of the smart home subscriptions.
After all, it is really the conception experience that's there to have the final say, with regard to what products are more popular and what type of loyalty the particular brands can really shape amount the market.
Well Premier Li also emphasized the importance of stabilizing foreign investment.
What steps do you think China can take to reassure foreign investors?
Well this is that really a crucial time to stress on this because there has been some of the negative voices against the foreign companies in China, they feel that Chinese companies are able to make the similar products.
Therefore, why do we have so many multinational companies in China?
Therefore, I think Premier Li pointed out a very important fact, that for a foreign investment to be able to contribute to the Chinese high -quality growth and new productivity force is still a very important policy pillar.
What is needed is that we need to provide more of the policy transparency and also cohesiveness, predictability.
And then the other is to provide a better market access for existing companies and also the companies who are ready to penetrate into the Chinese market by lowering the restrictions in some of the key industries, you know, from the manufacturing sector to the finance sector, to technology sector to some of the formerly defined as sensitive areas because now we have more confidence with our capability to be able to compete and also to be able to regulate.
And then legal protection for intellectual property rights also to provide a more efficient and fair dispute resolution mechanism is also to give with the investors more of the certainties.
And then to continue to strengthen Chinese unique competitiveness in a manufacturing hub, and to entrench the Chinese supply resilience, also there to be important to provide better the synergy with foreign companies investing in China.
So, therefore in the end, to encourage the tangible incentives for modern nationals to work with China, to establish more of the IT centers, to upgrade the technology together with China to benefit the consumer.
And these are also very important measures to attract the foreign investors.
That is Professor Liu Bao Trang, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics.
This is World Today, stay with us.
You're listening to World Today, I'm Zhao Ying.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will embark on an overseas trip that will bring him to Europe, North America and Africa.
America. Wang will visit the U .K.
and co -chair the 10th China -U .K.
Strategic Dialogue.
He will also visit Ireland and attend the 61st Munich Security Conference in Germany.
The Chinese foreign minister will later chair a U .N.
Security Council high -level event on multilateralism and global governance in New York.
After that, he will attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The whole trip will run from February the 12th to 21st.
For more, we are joined by Dr. Jie -hong Jin, Professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Thanks for joining us, Dr. Tae.
During his visit to the UK, Wang Yi will co -chair a China -UK strategic dialogue, which hasn't been held since 2018.
How significant is the resumption of this dialogue?
Also, in a normal situation between China and the UK, to have a lot of the high level exchange, including in their financial and economy, and also strategic and people -to -people.
Also in the past several years, because of especially some negative influence from British sites.
Right. So, not yet.
I mean, there's, you know, a continuing and a healthy exchange between two countries.
So, I think at this time Minister Wang and his counterpart will have this high -level strategic dialogue between China and the UK.
It could be a very, I mean, posted message to those two countries that those two governments tried to help the relations between two countries go back to a healthy, normal situation.
Also, we know this function of the High -Level Strategic Dialogue could be, you know, to deal with some, you know, foreign policy and security and international relations, some other.
I think it could be a very, very important, you know, symbol for those two countries to find out there's a high level of opposition between the two major countries.
I see a permanent member of the Security Council in the United Nations.
Hopefully, once there is a successful exchange on a strategic level, it will give some more favorable environment and also guideline for some other exchange between two countries.
Yes, so what issues do you think will be on top of their agenda?
Like what areas of cooperation do you think will be prioritized in their discussions?
As usual, during the strategic dialogue, those countries will focus some bilateral relations in foreign policy and also some regional and global issues.
and especially actually right now there are a lot of issues that could be touched by both two countries including Ukraine, the crisis and also Middle East crisis and even some Asian Pacific issues, once the British try to, you know, raise some questions, I think it could get some more, you know, post -it response from China's site.
And also, yes, this dialogue will also try to find out some more, you know, posting points, especially from pre -builds dialogue between two countries and the financial economy.
I think the financial cooperation and also industry cooperation and even this people to people contact how could go back to a normal situation.
All of this fundamental issue could be on the table, but of course, I think that many that currently issues like the regional and global security could be an important issue Well, back in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping met British Prime Minister Erst Stommer on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil, where Stommer pledged to be a predictable and pragmatic partner.
How do we understand this?
Indeed, as we understand for the past several years, especially on the administration of a conservative party from the UK.
Indeed, there are a lot of unpredictable situations in relations between China and the U .K, especially when we know that these relations have had a lot of change from a kind of a golden era promise from those two countries, and to how to say, a very, very difficult situation.
So, yes, I think that the Carlyle government tried to change the previous policy by conservative party governments.
Indeed, I think that to have some more predictable and positive and programmatic relations could be very, very important, you know, points for these relations.
But of course, I think the programmatic would be very, very important now for both the countries.
After, you know, recent years, there are some negative, you know, influence from media, from some, for example, the law house in UK, they criticize China more and more from at your logic, you know, angle.
I think it could give a very, very negative impact on these battlefield relations.
So how could those two governments get consensus to go back to more pragmatic relations could have been very, very big test for the British government?
And Wang Yi is also expected to attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany and share China's position on major international issues.
And according to a report by the conference, today's world is shifting from U .S.-led unit polarity toward multipolarity, what do you think is driving this shift?
Even as we know for years, the multi -polar world has become a very, very hard issue for most of the countries, especially some of the non -Western countries.
I think this time, the Munich Security Conference realized that the multi -polar world could be not only and also the fact.
So I think it could be a kind of the progress for this, you know, mindset for some best counties.
But of course, as we know, if we look back at the history, indeed, I would like to say this multipolarity is one of the protects of economic globalization.
Once there is globalization in economic and three There will be some more balancing, wealthy distribution, and certainly there are some more actors that could play a more positive role with more capability.
But of course, at the same time, I think that the current or the previous international of order could not already be out of date.
It's not so reasonable, just a few countries will control most of the resources, most of the power in the world.
So I think the other side of the multiplier is the democratization of internationalization.
It's just one of the principles or goals for Chinese foreign policy.
Well, the report also found that while BRICS countries see multi -polarity as a path to a fairer, more just and peaceful world, G7 nations are more pessimistic about this shift, and they fear it could increase disorder and conflict.
And what do you make of the contrasting perceptions of multi -polarity between Western nations and the global South?
To some degree, it's natural.
As we know, there are different attitudes from the G7 member state, because most of them are at the best economy, best countries.
And also, they have different understanding and views from the developing countries, represented by the BRICS or some other, you know, global South.
Also this kind of democratization of international relations means that perhaps the G7 or some other Western countries, they have to get some more equal position with some other non -Western countries.
and indeed BRICS and some other global south countries, they've regarded themselves as the former for this current international order, which means that this change or this reform should start from, you know, on equal to equal, and also to, you know, it's closer to inclusive.
So I think it's certainly, it's one of the fact, But on other side, to some degree, I think the pessimistic and optimistic difference could not be reason that there would be some bad game.
Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Chui Hongjian, Professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
You are listening to World Today.
We'll be back. You're listening to World Today, I'm Zhang Yang.
Hamas is suspending the next release of Israeli hostages, citing Israel's violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Three hostages in Gaza were due to be freed on Saturday in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Israel's Defense Minister said Hamas's move to halt the hostage release violates the ceasefire.
U .S. President Donald Trump said if Hamas does not release all remaining hostages from Gaza by Saturday, Israel should cancel the ceasefire.
For more on this, we are joined by Dr. Jiang Chuchu, Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University.
Dr. Jiang, thanks for joining us.
So Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.
What specific violations are being referred to and how credible are these allegations?
Well, as we can see, Hamas said Israel had violated the terms of the ceasefire by, for instance, not allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, carrying out strikes across the Gaza Strip and failing to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.
I think now one big challenge regarding this issue is that the two sides have very different interpretations of the agreement.
And, in fact, it is not uncommon to see Hamas and Israel blaming each other to violate agreements.
They had a lot of this kind of actions before.
And right now I think this can further worsen the security situation in Gaza.
I mean Israel, on the other hand, has caught Hamas' announcement a complete violation of its ceasefire.
What are we to make of Israel's position here?
Right. As you said, Israeli defense minister said the post -mortem was a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and instructed the Israeli military to be on the highest level of alert.
So this shows that Israel adopts a hotline position and it tries to attribute the suspension of the ceasefire to Hamas.
Also, it sends the signal that it is prepared for escalation of conflicts.
So I think what is concerning here is that the two sides are busy blaming each other instead of focusing on negotiations, and this can lead to further escalation of tuition.
But actually, in the meantime, Hamas has said the door remains open for the next round of releases if Israel meets its obligations.
How would you interpret this?
And also, what immediate risk do you think the suspension poses to the ceasefire that is already very fragile?
Well, there are a lot of risks, and also, indeed, the ceasefire is very fragile.
Personally, I'm not very surprised by this outcome because a closer look at the ceasefire agreement reviews that Hamas and Israel only agreed on some of the content in the first phase, with very significant differences regarding the second and third phases.
So as a result, when the ceasefire moves through the later stages, the contradictions between the two sides are very likely to become more pronounced.
So currently, by claiming that the door remains open for the next round of releases, if Israel Your main thesis obligations, I think Hamas aims to show that it doesn't want people to think it is the one who broke the deal, but in any case the suspension has brought more uncertainties at the moment.
Yeah, and also, US President Donald Trump has threatened to cancel the ceasefire if all hostages are not returned by Saturday, and he warned that all hell will break out.
How might his rhetoric influence Hamas' calculations or further escalate tensions in the region?
Well, I would say that this kind of rhetoric does have an impact.
And actually, this is why Hamas does not want to create an impression that itself violates the ceasefire agreement first, because that will give Israel an excuse to further enhance its military actions against Hamas.
And we should not forget that Netanyahu had this kind of intention in order to maintain his status and also prolong his political career.
So currently Hamas is worried that after the hostages are released it will have fewer and fewer bargaining chiefs so I think it is now trying to maximize the use of the the last remaining hostages to gain more negotiating conditions.
Well actually we know that Trump has proposed this idea of the US taking control of Gaza and resettling his population outside of the territory.
And he also suggested that he may withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they do not cooperate with this plan to resettle the population in these two countries.
Do you think those statements have played a key role in complicating the ceasefire negotiations?
Absolutely. So I think the situation will become more and more complicated.
Currently, I think, you know, there are more than two million residents in the Gaza Strip, and Trump knows clearly that it is impossible to resettle all of these people out of the territory.
So I think by saying so, actually, Trump aims to express his rejection of the two -state solution, and also he's trying to put pressure on a lot of neighboring Arab states, including Jordan, Egypt, and also Saudi Arabia, et cetera, to force them to make a lot of compromise.
But I think one outcome will be the expansion of the spillover effect of the Gaza War.
And also we can see an escalation of tensions between maybe more on Arab states and Israel, particularly if we take into consideration the context where Egypt and Jordan are already encountering very hard economic times.
So it means that if there are new people from Gaza coming in, then it can even further deteriorate their internal problems.
So I think this means that Gaza's post -war political arrangements will definitely cause more contentions.
Well, actually in the past Trump has been a vocal critic of US involvement in such kind of nation -building and military intervention in the Middle East, then why do you think it's now proposing a US intervention of this scale?
What might be his motivations behind this shift?
Well, I think Donald Trump is known for his fickleness, so actually he changes his ideas from time to time.
Interestingly, shortly after he proposed a US intervention, the White House press secretary which we claimed that the United States will not send ground troops to Gaza nor will American taxpayers fund it.
And we should bear in mind that the guideline of Trump's policy is always American first.
So I don't think he's prepared to enormously increase his military and financial investment on this issue.
And I think through these kind of declarations, one intention is to express his unconditional or support for Netanyahu in order to strategically deter Iran and also the so -called Middle East resistance axis at least and reduce their willingness to confront Israel at the moment.
Yeah, but we know that this plan has been widely rejected by regional leaders, so what do you think this would mean for US foreign policy moving forward?
so right now I think so Trump has a tactic that he always proposes something which seems to be out so he always proposes some some very big ideas but in the end he makes change and right now I think he's trying to gain more bargaining chips during his negotiations with different parties in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and Jordan, for instance, and that is why I think this is a very important context.
So I think it remains to see how the different parties are going to compromise and negotiate with each other.
Thank you, Dr. Zhang Zhu, too, Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Phudan University.
You're listening to World Today.
Stay with us. This is World Today.
I'm Zhao Ying. Foreign investment institutions are increasingly bullish on Chinese assets, with several investment banks predicting strong growth for the Chinese stock market in 2025.
The Deutsche Bank believes this is the year investors recognize the competitive advantages of China's manufacturing and service sectors.
The bank said that Chinese companies are offering better value and often better quality.
Goldman Sachs echoed this sentiment, citing DeepSeek's rise as a significant catalyst for Chinese technology stocks.
Analysts say that the global attention on DeepSeek can spur investors to reassess China's innovation capacity.
Bank of America also favors Chinese equities, recommending investors go long on Chinese stocks while expressing caution about the U .S.
stock market. For more on this, my colleague Xiaoyoung spoke with Professor Chichiang, fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center at Minzhu University of China.
So Professor Chichiang, thank you very much for joining us.
As the Chinese company DeepSeek continues to capture their attention worldwide, many foreign institutions are bullish on Chinese tech stocks, including the Deutsche Bank, the Goldman Sachs.
How do you see this phenomenon?
I think this phenomenon shows that we changed the people's expectation and a prospect about China.
Well, a lot of people are thinking China, actually under the trade conflict with America for a very long time, probably China are losing its edge in technology innovation and the development.
But right now, it shows that Chinese people actually are making a breakthrough and forming a new trend and a new tide of innovation and also, it shows the whole world that Chinese people can really make it.
just like 60 years ago, like exactly in 1965, we have launched our own nuclear bomb.
So here is again after 60 years, we have made our breakthrough in AI, not only as a, you know, a shoulder by shoulder runner, but also in some areas.
We have already been surpassing American AI products and many other breakthroughs in technology like, you know, green energy, like autopilot vehicles and a robot technology are also doing the same performances.
So, I think that changed people's expectation and it make people, make the whole world, especially the investors, rethink and reevaluating Chinese assets, especially starting from the stock market.
What are the main advantages of DeepSeek, do you think, and to what extent does it reflect China's competitiveness in the AI technology?
Well, it's gonna be a very long story.
Well, number one, I think, is architecture and efficiency.
I think Deep Seek has been used in a different large -language model with MOE and they're dynamically optimized.
It's a computation of resources.
For example, you can support the 256K that tokens are long -transcripted processing.
And for the chat GBT, it's only 128K.
And also, I think that the responding speed has been much faster.
For example, if you want to do coding with a chat GBT, you probably are going to spend about 420 microseconds with chat GPT but with the deep seek, you only will spend like 350 microseconds and also about the cost.
This is another very very important benchmark to distinguish the chat GPT and deep seek because deep seeks training to achieve the same level of performance has only required $5 .5 million us dollars.
On a contrary, chat chatgbt will spend $500 million for just one trading.
And also, talking about using the API, the price for the chatgbt is like 20 to 40 times higher than the deepseek.
And also, if you're talking about the vertical areas and using a Chinese transcript, everybody knows chatgbt has been using an English transcript to train their model.
So in Chinese performances, actually it's much less than the deepseek.
because deep -seek has been trading with Chinese transcript and also in many vertical areas for example like financial analyze in healthcare, diagnosis.
In this area I think deep -seek actually outperformed chat GPT but also I think the two model have some differences.
For example, chat GPT still have a lot of advantage in open dialogue in multilingual scenario but I think DeepSeq has been more like an expert, using its expertise to work for a special scenario for special expertise required regions and missions.
And I think for the chat DVD also, they used the closed end model, but the DeepSeq actually used the open source strategy to attract more of the developer's community and also support the private deployment.
So I think that will make DeepSeq, with more of the vitality and a more continuous development in the future.
And Deep Sea's low cost, high function model boosts hope for China's AI revolution.
So what do you think the AI revolution means for China's economy and also the stock market?
Well, actually, the success of the Deep Sea means that China has become very important place in the AI area.
We used to be the number two runner after the champion, which is the United States like the OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, right now, China has become partially leading runners in many sectors.
So actually, we've been running shoulder -by -shoulder with United States in multiple fronts already.
And I think with this innovation in the algorithm, actually, we can have, you know, we can actually achieve a different way of developing AI AI in China.
A breakdown, the superstition in the past, which means you can only by piling up the tons of the GPUs so that you can make breakthrough in a better model in AI.
But China and DBC actually are telling the whole world, you do not have to use this as what we call the barbaric or very brutal force to make a breakthrough in AI.
You can do it in a very smart and efficient way.
And also, secondly, I think DeepSeek actually shows the whole world.
The Chinese AI can actually be very, very down to the earth, which means very practical.
Not only for theoretical use, but right now can be directly used in many scenarios and generate benefit for many sectors or walks of life.
And also, as I just mentioned, they're open source, which means they are more sustainable and also more confident in the future.
That will show the whole world that the Chinese high technology industry has been actually showing multiple different advantages and also, I think I just as I mentioned, it become a good example and change people's expectation not only in AI of China, but also like in EV in green, energy, in a robo technologies and also in the aerospace and aviation technologies and all of these are representing a new phase for Chinese technology in a manufacturing.
And do you think the foreign investors are continuously going to put their money into the Chinese market?
Of course, we have already seen that the Deutsche Bank's prospect and analyze report has been spreading wildly in many countries, in many markets.
And I think right now, for the whole Wall Street and also for the European investors and many other emerging market investors, they've been trying to reevaluate Chinese assets because they used to think Chinese technology has been blocked or sanctioned, has been running in a closed source scenario in a closed door garden.
But now they think, OK, Chinese economy and Chinese technology is actually more opener than we actually thought.
So Chinese economy and Chinese technology actually We will have a better future, more of the potential than everybody can think.
On the contrary, maybe United States technology is overrated.
For example, do we really need that much of the GPU?
Do we really need that much of the NVIDIA product?
Or is the CEOs, so -called the tech groups in America, Silicon Valley companies, are overpaid?
For example, just the one CEO seller in open AI works the whole development of the full life cycle cost of the deep seek of just one product.
So I think is that totally worth it?
Or are we, are talking about the wrong evaluation or pricing in American assets?
So I think all these are, you know, triggering people's thinking and not only for China, but also for the whole world different performances.
That is Professor Chiu -Chian, fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center at Min physiology University of China, speaking with my colleague Zhao Yang.
This is World Today, stay with us.
You're listening to World Today, I'm Zhao Yang.
Tesla has launched operation of its battery megafactory in Shanghai to manufacture its megapad batteries.
companies. The factory is the first of its kind built by Tesla outside the U .S.
and the company's second plant in Shanghai.
Construction of the mega -factory began in May 2024.
Tesla says the launch of the plant is expected to help the company's energy storage installation capacity grow 50 percent in 2025.
Megapack is a utility -scale battery produced by Tesla.
It provides energy storage with an aim to help stabilize the grid and prevent outages.
joining us now in the studio with my colleague Dean Hung.
Thanks for being here.
Hey, Zhang Ying. So the construction of this megafactory took just seven months, and that surpasses its 2019 record in building its EV factory in Shanghai.
What do you make of this new Tesla speed in China?
Well, I would say in terms of efficiency of doing something, there is actually a great level of convergence between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Chinese government.
Elon Musk very much cares about efficiency, which is why he has been tasked by Donald Trump to increase the U .S.
government efficiency.
But in the meantime, the Chinese government is also very efficient in terms of pushing through those beneficial programs or projects by mobilizing the right kind of resources.
Back in 2019, In 2015, Tesla gained various policies of support from Shanghai local authorities, ranging from approvals to preferential loans, and building its EV factory at the time.
It quickly came online after breaking ground at the start of 2019, and by comparison for your information, back in the year 2015 and 2016, it actually took twice as long for Tesla's Gigafactory in the U .S.
State of Nevada to begin production.
This time we have also seen some staunch support from the Shanghai municipal government.
From Shanghai officials, we have heard comments that vowed to help Tesla create a new glory in the energy storage industry and create better conditions to help Tesla's Megapack batteries to develop domestic and overseas markets.
and one thing I would like to say here is that when Chinese government officials are making promises, usually there will be concrete follow -up actions, that's for sure.
Ok well according to Tesla this factory has an annual production capacity of up to 10 ,000 units and an energy storage scale of nearly 40 GWh, and that is enough to power 50 ,000 homes in Shanghai for a year.
What will this factory's capacity bring to Tesla and beyond?
Well, I guess we can start from why Tesla decided to develop this Megapack batteries in the first place.
They are designed to be deployed by electric utilities to stabilize the grid power.
The electricity stored in these Megapack batteries can be used, for example, during periods of peak electricity demand, or when grid power is disrupted by some natural or man -made factors.
So a more flexible power grid is one benefit.
In the meantime, because some renewable green power sources like wind in particular can be very unstable, can be uncertain.
So deploying megapack batteries can also be positive for transition to renewable energy system while at the same time, ensuring the stability of the overall power supply.
This is the bigger picture.
And when you go on to check on Tesla's earnings numbers, in last year's third quarter, the The company's energy storage business saw a 52 % year -on -year increase in revenues with a profit margin of 30%.
Tesla had previously said that the supply of the Macapack batteries continues to be limited by its capacity because as new markets are opened up and demand for electric storage product continues to grow.
So given the capacity that you have cited earlier, this macro factory in Shanghai will definitely in a very significant manner improve this supply constraints situation.
And also let's not forget that just like the Tesla EV factory in Shanghai.
This new plant And it's not just a factory for China, its products will be shipped to other Asian countries, other Asian Pacific markets actually, like Australia as well.
So the results will be mutually beneficial, will be multiple wings for multiple players.
It will on one hand main new business growth for Tesla for sure, but on the other hand, It will also mean additional momentum in terms of, you know, growing transition not only in China, but also other Asia Pacific countries.
What do you think this Tesla Mago Factory tells us about the momentum of foreign investment in China?
Of course, it tells a lot.
The overwhelming trends, I guess, among foreign investors is that they don't want to see decoupling from China.
China. They want to continue to benefit from China's market potentials, on one hand, and on the other hand, to benefits to gain from China's world -class infrastructure, quality labor and many other factors that will be key for manufacturing competitiveness.
Numbers don't lie. Last year we saw a surge of close to 10%, 9 .9%.
In terms of the number of newly registered foreign invested enterprises here in China.
And most recently, earlier this week, we also saw this Chinese state council executive meeting which adopted an action plan to stabilize foreign investment for the year of 2025.
Of course, Tesla has been treated by China as an icon when we talk about foreign investment in China.
that's for sure. I believe going forward, Chinese authorities will surely do more to create a level playing field for everybody.
Do you expect Elon Musk and Tesla to play a constructive role in the China -U .S.
economic relations during Trump 2 .0?
From China's perspective, we of course wish he will do so, because no one needs a reminder that Tesla has been a hugely successful model when we talk about China -US economic collaboration.
This has been made clear when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met sometime last year with Elon Musk when Musk paid a visit to China.
Last year, Chinese consumers contributed to more than a third of Tesla's global EV sales.
That's the bigger picture.
But having said that, I think we also need to wait and see with regard to how big of a role that Musk will eventually play in the Trump administration's economic or trade policy.
Some people in America are already attacking Elon Musk as a so -called problem for the Trump administration because of his business ties with China and on some specific issues like green transition and electric vehicles.
I don't think Musk and Trump can see eye to eye with each other so there is a question with regard to how long they can be bound with each other in this new administration.
So going forward let's be cautiously optimistic.
Ok, thank you ding -hung and that's all the time we have for this edition of World Today.
I'm Yao Ying, thank you so much for listening.
See you next time.
