China hosts Central Rural Work Conference, aligning key priorities for the next five-year plan.
The PLA carried out live-fire drills north and south of Taiwan, continuing its military exercises around the island.
And in the second half we'll explore our year-end special, the deeper logic behind China's south-south cooperation.
Welcome to Road Today, a news program with a different perspective.
I'm Ge'anna in Beijing.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching Road Today.
Our top story.
Chinese President, Xi Jinping, is calling for sustained efforts on the three rural issues as China prepares to enter its 15th five-year plan period.
Speaking at the Central Rural Work Conference this week, President Xi, also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, emphasized the importance of integrated urban-rural development and ensuring a steady rise in farmers' incomes.
He urged governments at all levels to place issues related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers at the top of their policy agenda.
The meeting also reviewed key recommendations on advancing agricultural and rural modernization, as well as further promoting rural revitalization.
To delve into this, let's bring in Dr Yao Shujie Chang Kong, Professor of Economics at Chongqing University.
Great to have you, Professor Yao.
Hi, Anna.
Professor, first, before we dive in, I'd like to start with a broader question.
The meeting stressed the need to accelerate the building of a strong agricultural country.
Could you please help us understand what that actually means in practice for China?
What does an agricultural powerhouse look like?
First of all, China has the largest population on Earth.
We have 1.4 billion people for many decades.
And the biggest problem for China since the economic reform is to provide sufficient food and agricultural product so that people can have a decent life.
And over 40 years of economic development.
China has made lots of achievements in the agricultural sector, the rural construction and also farmers' income.
But as China enters a new development stage, China needs to upgrade the technological level in the three issues.
First of all, agricultural production.
Secondly, it's rural comprehensive development and also the likelihood of the peasantry.
In this new era, I think China emphasizes modernization, emphasizes higher prosperity for all the people living in the countryside.
And the biggest problem is still food security.
How to make sure that China produces enough grain and other agricultural products so that 14 billion people can have adequate food.
And this kind of food should be produced with high technology and less input of labour.
This would release lots of resources which can be ploughed back into the rural areas so that the rural construction can become more modernised, similar to the city level.
And certainly it's the general improvement of the people's livelihood in the countryside.
Uh, because there is still a significant gap between the urban and rural incomes.
So uh, to reduce this gap, i think the emphasis is to raise the farmer's income and the modernity of the agricultural rural sector itself.
But how we do it is, um is the top priority of the meeting that it has been just hold over the last couple of days.
This is normally the first important meeting of the leadership at the Communist Party Central Committee.
It emphasized the importance of the three rural issues, not only because of the population there is still fairly large, but also it provides the basic infrastructure for providing food security and sufficient supply of food to all the people, including people in the urban area.
And certainly because China aims to modernize the country, the so-called socialism modernization, And without the modernization of the vast area in the rural area, without the agricultural technology improvement and modernization, without the general improvement of the people's life in the countryside, it is still not the Chinese-style modernization.
So, as part of the integrated national goal of making China a prosperous and a modernized society, I think the three rural issues are still very, very important, not only for the current years, but for the future years to come.
Particularly the 15 years plan.
The 15 years five year plan is a critical area period that China is aiming to become a modernized society by the year 2035.
And this is the first five years plan which is critically important to lay a solid foundation for the further development in the medium term and the longer term.
Mm-hmm.
Speaking of this 15th five-year plan 2026, next year marked the first year of the next five-year plan.
So, compared with the policy focus during the 14th five-year plan period, what do you see as the most significant new elements or strategic shifts this time around?
The 14th five-year plan is the consolidation period. up to China eradicate objects in poverty.
So basically, it's the consolidation, the low-low modernization, to make sure that all the people who have been lifting our poverty will continue to improve their living status.
Now for the next five years' plan.
It will be one step forward, not only to consolidate the achievement of the poverty eradication, but also to improve the farmers' income to a much higher level, so that the gap between the rural and the urban population will be further reduced.
And to reduce this gap, I think a lot of policy effort would need to be made in terms of investment, in terms of technological progress, in terms of the strategy to improve the productive activity and also productivity in agriculture itself throughout the country.
The country is a big country, lots of reasons, lots of conditions, agricultural conditions.
So these kinds of policies have to be implemented according to the local situation.
It is a very comprehensive national program in terms of uh like juveniles in the, the agriculture, the rural sector, but also making that uh, all the uh you know lag behind area will catch up quickly with the more advanced area, particularly in the central and the western part of the country.
There will be more investment to bring these kinds of less advanced area to become more advanced compared to the coastal eastern area.
Professor, with a new objective besides policy framework you just mentioned, in your view, what will be the most critical driver to achieve agricultural and rural modernization and higher standards?
The critical driver is technology and technological management.
Why is technology?
Because there are less and less people available for the agricultural sector, which produce more and more product.
So labour productivity have to be increased steadily.
So the agricultural product production will become profitable, will become more innovative, will become more efficient and per labour output would have to be increased all the time.
And in order to increase the labour and total factor productivity.
The biggest driver is technological innovation and how to manage this technology throughout the country so that the technology can serve the agricultural production system to improve the rural construction and also environmental improvement, the green development.
It has to be focused on how technology can be applied and what kinds of technology can be created to serve the purpose.
Because we've been talking about new quality productive forces.
Could you please give us a more concrete picture of what new quality productive forces in agriculture actually look like?
And the phrase developing agricultural new quality productive forces based on local conditions is also relatively new.
And how does this approach differ from traditional farming models?
Yeah, the new productive forces is an idea proposed by President Xi Jinping when he visited Heilongjiang.
You know, Heilongjiang is one of the biggest agricultural base for China.
So it is a coincidence that the presidency raised this issue in Heilongjiang.
In Heilongjiang, I can give you a concrete example.
We don't have too many people, too many farmers on the field, but you can see the modernity of agricultural cultivation, preparation of field and also plantation and harvest and processing of agricultural products and distribution to the rest of the country or even export.
Now, this process requires less and less labor input, but it requires more and more technology and technological equipment.
For example, harvesting.
A big harvester, you can harvest about two to three hectares a day.
But for human beings, it probably takes about 200 or 300 people to do the same job as one harvester.
So technological equipment is very important.
And secondly, I think it's the labour, the farmers, who have to know the technology and who know how to operate these kinds of modern machinery and repair them, use them for the fuel activity.
So farmers' education, farmers knowing how to operate the system and how to advance the technology in the practice is very important.
And certainly it's the output.
You know in the past, when we, let's say, for petty rice or wheat, we produce this product and we have to uh, you know, to try them, to prepare them with lots of labor input.
Nowadays you have a driving machine, you can also have packaging and you can also put it in in process final output.
If you do it in the same way and do it on the spot, basically do it in one minute and human being have to do it in many, many days.
So these kinds of labor equipment and final products in the distribution system.
It requires a lot of technological input.
This is one example.
The other example. because China has a very limited amount of agricultural cultivatable land.
And in order to make this limited cultivatable land ever more productive, you have to increase the yield per hectare.
And the yield per hectare requires a lot of, you know, fairly articulated management of technology.
For example, when to irrigate, how to irrigate, and you can also save the water.
And also how to fertilize the crops, the product, you know.
This all requires lots of scientific research.
And you not only follow the textbook, but you also follow the experience of the farmers who are operating this system.
And also China is not only producing rice and wheat, but China produces vegetables, you know, fruit and processed agricultural products fish, livestock products, milk.
Nowadays, there's ample supply of agricultural goods on the supermarkets.
And each product requires lots of articulated technological input to make the cost of this product very, very low so that it's available for all the people.
And they have to be safe.
Because they have to process and put in storage and save so that it doesn't harm the human health.
In contrary, it should provide more and more healthy product for the people to improve not only the dietary demand but also increase the health condition.
So you put this issue together.
You know that the three rural areas are so important because we cannot live without good agricultural products.
Thanks, Professor.
Truly appreciate the clarity and depth of your analysis.
That was Dr. Yao Shujie, Chang Kong Professor of Economics at Chongqing University.
The Eastern Theater Command of Chinese People's Liberation Army continued its military drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, the second day of the drills, codenamed Justice Mission 2025.
A wide range of advanced military assets were deployed.
These forces are engaged in critical operations such as target identification and verification, maritime warning and explosion simulated strikes, assaults on maritime targets, as well as anti-air and anti-submarine operations.
PLA Eastern Theater Command says that the drills were designed to assess the troops' capabilities in sea and air coordination and integrated blockade and control.
So for more on this, Xue Awen spoke with Liu Kuangyu, researcher at Institute of Taiwan Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Dr Liu.
Since the launch of the Justice Mission 2025 exercises, the PLA's military drills have featured multi-domain live fire operations, including joint precision strikes on key targets and all-round blockades covering the waters and airspace surrounding Taiwan island.
So what combat capabilities has China's PLA demonstrated through these concrete actions?
But these days, live-fire exercise featured, I think, at least three key characteristics.
And the first is the diverse firepower capabilities, encompassed naval gun live-fire drills and precision strikes with long-range boxed ammunition and stimulated precision strikes with conventional missiles.
The second is the multifaceted target included not only striking the lifelines of energy imports for Taiwan independent forces, but also the seeding of their major ports and military bases.
And, based on exercise content, we see one key element was precision strikes targeting the so-called vital points.
This involves conducting multiple waves of strikes against naval vessels and aircraft at sea, as well as targeting missile sites and ammunition depots, and particularly those offensive weapon systems procured from external forces.
Third is the multi-directional coverage encircle the island from the north to the south and west to the east especially, you see, we see that those very key water channels, those strays to the south and north of the, the island, which is considered as the pathway or the pathage for external uh intervention, and the, the so-called the escape routes for taiwan independence forces.
So we see all the energy facilities, especially those to the west coast of the LNG station and the power station on the west coast of the island.
And the major ports like Keelung and Kaohsiung and Taipei and the military bases like Taichung and Kaohsiung of the Taiwan Independent Forces separates are all within PLA's firepower network coverage.
So this demonstrates our capabilities to act as a so-called moments notice and to live fire exercises and joint strikes.
We can fully cover and decisively severe all their so-called energy lines, supply lines and escape roads, crushing their so-called delusional and sinister schemes of resisting reunification with force.
Some point out that the US is pushing Taiwan to become a porcupine island, while preparing to abandon it in the long run.
So, in your view, who ultimately bears the costs of this geopolitical game, and what impacts have these already caused?
Yes.
Recently we see very frequently the US military and their think tanks openly encourage Taiwan to pursue so-called porcupine strategy, as you mentioned, by significantly increasing their arms purchases, especially from the US.
By continuous arming Taiwan and pushing for a so-called pro-Cubanization, the US, I think, aims to turn Taiwan into a forward outpost to contain Chinese mainland and thereby depleting China's strategic resources.
And simultaneously it seeks to leverage cross-strait tensions to slow China's rise, which is, I think, a very classic offshore balancing strategy.
On one hand, the US is squeezing Taiwan's economy through arms sales to satisfy the interests of its military-industrial complex and, on the other, it seeks to turn Taiwan into a so-called powder keg or arsenal.
With the Lai Ching demonstration's unconditional cooperation, I think Taiwan and all their people and their whole society will ultimately become the sacrificial pawn and the Taiwanese people will ultimately suffer all the consequences.
Dr Liu.
So Taiwan's DPP authority has proposed this 40 billion special defense budget for arms purchases and is also pushing to increase military spending to 5 of its GDP by 2030, while slashing budgets for education, elderly care, infrastructure development and so on and so forth.
Does this indicate that arms purchases from the US have replaced investment in people's well-being and social development?
And how will that affect the island's long-term vitality?
Yes, indeed, that replacement is already happening.
We see from a very direct perspective.
The escalating cost of US arms sales to Taiwan and a surge in Taiwan's military expenditures are already substantially undermining Taiwan's physical capabilities or capacities and depleting these societal savings for the past decades.
We see that, facing US calculations and exploitation, the last administration has willingly cooperated without restraint, pledging to substantially increase defense spending.
However, we see the US weapons deliveries remain severely delayed, with approved but undelivered arms sales to Taiwan now exceeding more than 20 billion US dollars.
And, for instance, if military spending were to rise to half of Taiwan's GDP, as Elijah has promised, it will mean that half of Taiwan's authorities' budget fiscal budget every year will be allocated to purchasing US weapons.
If they were to reach the 10 percent which is demanded by Trump, the Taiwan authorities will have no other funds left for any sort of economic development or public welfare, which is, of course, an utterly absurd scenario.
So, at a deeper level, if we see the arms sales bring greater danger rather than so-called security to Taiwan, this is very abnormal.
So, driven by partisan interest, DPP administration is accelerating Taiwan's militarization by aligning with external forces.
So they're waiting to turn Taiwan into this so-called arsenal leg.
And also we see an increasing number of people recognize that no amount of weapons purchase can reverse the widening gap in strength between the two sides of the straits and that using military force to resist reunification is unrealistic.
Dr Liu.
We have also noticed that, amid this US continuous arms sales to the Taiwan region, which have directly triggered PLA's military drills, Taiwan's youth are increasingly voicing concerns about being cannon fodder and erosion of their quality of life.
So how do you interpret the root causes of this growing anxiety among Taiwan's young generation?
Yes.
Actually, the US finds itself in a highly awkward position amidst skepticism within Taiwan, like what you described, especially the doubts from the youth in Taiwan.
It is trying to evade its responsibilities while masquerading as Taiwan's so-called friends, partner or even protector or alliance.
Continue to support the so-called pro-independence forces in hyping the China threat and the Taiwan's so-called self-defense capabilities narrative to justify its arming Taiwan or arms sales to Taiwan.
And, on the other hand, it intensified pressures on all the Taiwanese political parties and the Taiwan society and the Taiwan media, even preparing to step into the front line to replace DPP, replace Laichengde in pushing arms sales directly to the Taiwan society.
And in Taiwan we know the Legislative Yuan they think that Laichengde is not doing very well in representing US interests, especially in arms sales.
So they talk very directly to the Taiwan political parties to Kuomintang and to TPP.
So they're trying to push arms sales and militarizing Taiwan, revealing these very hysterical and profit-driven motives.
I think the US and therefore we can see this as the primary instigator of current tensions across the Taiwan Strait and provocations by the pro-independence forces.
And we see our military exercise today clearly demonstrate that Our strategic arrangements for the ultimate resolution of the Taiwan question have fully accounted for this reality.
And lastly, Dr Liu.
President Donald Trump has said he's not worried about China's military drills around the island of Taiwan.
What signal does he send to the DPP authorities?
Well, I don't think this is a very surprising answer or surprising feedback from Trump, because obviously President Trump is.
I think the biggest thing in his mind is what we call the big deal or the big exchange with China.
I think Mr Trump is pretty worried about Lighting Day and also about Sanae Takeuchi, Prime Minister of Japan.
They know they are trying to provoke Chinese mainland and they know that it's not at the best interest of US big deal or grand strategy with China.
When we are expressing, demonstrating our wills and capabilities of pushing for reunification.
I think US is showing more respect and trying to ease their tones on this question.
That was Dr Liu Kuangyu, researcher at Institute of Taiwan Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
This is World Today.
We'll be back.
Welcome back.
You're listening to World Today's year-end special with Mika Anna in Beijing.
From Monday through Wednesday, we take a closer look at China's major diplomatic agenda for 2025, from high-level home-ground diplomacy to the latest developments in China-US relations, to understand how China is shaping its role in a changing world.
Today let's move to the growing cooperation between China and the Global South, starting with the China-Latin America and Caribbean Countries Forum held in May in Beijing.
This year, China's SEALAC Forum brought together leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean.
The focus?
Strengthening South-South cooperation and shared development.
Facts have proven that China and Latin American and Caribbean countries have formed a community of a shared future for common progress.
It features equal treatment, mutual benefit, win-win cooperation, openness and inclusiveness.
The fundamental aim is to benefit the people, creating vitality and broad development prospects.
Leaders across the region welcomed China's vision, emphasizing stability, openness and partnership.
Right now, CELAC stands as the best platform for exchanges and cooperation between Latin America, the Caribbean and China.
As the world is trending toward fragmentation, I believe identifying and strengthening mechanisms that can transcend political changes and ensure stable relations is the best outcome we can hope for.
For region and country, the greatest prospect lies in free trade and economic flows.
We need a world that remains open, not closed.
We have carefully listened to President Xi's speech and are delighted to embrace the five major programs he proposed to promote cooperation between China and the community of Latin American and Caribbean states.
These constructive initiatives, as President Xi said, will surely make greater contributions to the win-win development, cooperation and peace of the people of our countries.
This fills us with optimism and hope and will also boost the technological development of our countries, bringing us closer together and enhancing mutual understanding.
The leadership of President Xi Jinping is of great significance to the development and progress of each country.
It enables the natural resources of Latin American and Caribbean countries to complement the technology of China, which will generate more job opportunities and stimulate the economy.
What does China-London America cooperation tell us about the future of South-South collaboration?
This is Road Today, our year-end special.
To delve into this, let's have Einar Tengen, senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, a Canadian think tank.
Mohamed Zamira Saadi, editor of China Desk Internews Pakistan.
Gentlemen, this year's China Select Forum was held in Beijing.
Beyond the high-level statements, which specific initiatives or cooperation details stood out to you the most?
Einar, would you like to start?
How do they reflect a shift in South-East cooperation from broad principles to concrete, actionable projects?
Well, I think the thing that I most look at is, of course, the BRI actionable stuff.
You know, you have $1.3 trillion that has been put into the BRI over these last 12 years.
This year there was even more money put in than last year, despite everyone saying oh, the BRI is dead and it's all over, and things like that.
But the thing that really caught my eye is the emphasis on sharing technology, especially as a time when the world is undergoing a shift from information and financialization to digitalization and processing of that.
And IP is absolutely essential.
You can see parts of it with DeepSeek, et cetera, et cetera, how they've reformatted, how countries can participate.
I mean.
DeepSeek itself is a revolution because it opened up AI to the entire world, because it's free and it is being used.
And unfortunately for the American companies who thought that they could basically capture AI and make people pay for it basically be rent gatherers they're having to change their model.
But this idea that China is willing to co-develop the new technologies that are going to be part of the world is very important, because There's a real feeling that those who own the IP will be served by those who don't.
And no country in the world right now wants to be left behind in that kind of thing.
They don't want to become second-class citizens, basically a digital apartheid.
So China's willingness to do that and to promote these programs with real dollars is, I think, the most important aspect of CELAC.
Zamir, what's your take looking beyond the China Sea Lake Forum?
What examples of cooperation between China and Global South countries over the past year do you think are especially worth highlighting?
Yeah, i think any kind of a platform or a forum that is collaborating under the platform of collaboration with china around the globe is really cultivating the meaningful and the beneficial results for the various countries in the in the different regions.
So i think the emergence of platforms like the china uh select forum or the forum of the china africa cooperation and the brics meetings They represent a fundamental shift in how Global South countries engage with the global order.
And these platforms, I think, are not just about economic cooperation, but they are empowering Global South countries.
That is also the need of the time to move from, you know, being rule takers to co-shapers of international norms, and And I believe that these frameworks are enabling just that, especially when it comes to key issues like climate change and debt governance because, you know such kind of issues, they are really getting the attention of the international community.
And you can say that the developing nations, they are looking for the support, especially from China, in the Global South platform.
So I think, for example, in the BRICS meetings, countries like India Brazil, South Africa, Russia and China have consistently advocated for a more democratic, multipolar world order that is challenging the dominance of the Western countries in shaping global finance systems, trade rules and international law.
So I think such kind of platforms China Select or China collaborating under other platforms with various countries are the need of the time and they are the call of the future as well.
And China in particular, has been an advocate for climate justice, urging that the developing countries honor their historical responsibility for carbon emissions, while providing financial support to developing countries to transition to green energy.
And I think such kind of a collaboration and such kind of an experience from China that is being delivered to the other partner countries of China really cultivate the historic results.
Zamir.
Compared with traditional development cooperation led by northern countries, what's the most fundamental difference, in your opinion, in China's approach to South-South cooperation?
I think China's, you know, approach to the South-South collaboration is very unique.
And it has been emerging as an example for those nations who claim to be the leader of the development in various parts of the world.
So I think that basically, the collaboration between China and the Global South is based on the meaningful collaboration and the and the beneficial results.
That is also based on the mutual consent.
And we see that the Global South has indeed become a cornerstone of China's diplomatic agenda.
And South-South cooperation, I think, plays a key role in shaping China's overall foreign policy strategy.
And to understand its significance.
It's important to see the South-South cooperation not as just a diplomatic buzzword, but as a strategic priority of China.
That is particularly in the context of today's shifting global leadership.
And in this regard I would like to say some points.
That South-South cooperation is representing China's commitment to fostering mutual development and solidarity with the countries in the Global South.
And it is rooted in China's historical experience as a developing country and its desire to position itself as a leader in advocating for the interests of the Global South in international affairs.
So i think such kind of a collaboration china being a developing uh you know a country collaborating with the other developing nations, china knows better that how they can share its experience of the development as per the needs and as per the requirements of other nations of the global south.
So at its core, i think social collaboration is about mutual support between countries that share similar development challenges and aspirations.
And South-South collaboration is particularly significant within China's wish that the other developing nations of the Global South they can also move fast towards gaining the sustainable prosperity that is in the favor of the masses.
Einar, how do you rate the fundamental difference in China's approach to South-South cooperation as a developing nation compared with that of Global North?
Well, I think China has led the way in Let's talk about some specifics.
In terms of debt, as my colleague pointed out, China instituted a debt swap and they allowed Nigeria to swap out its US-denominated debt for renminbi debt.
That saved it $500 million.
That's a lot of money, especially at a time when oil prices and things like that are a little unsteady and there's a lot of needs.
I think I think the best way of encapsulating it is just look at COP 30.
What happened at COP 30?
The US didn't come because it says climate change is a hoax.
Then you had Europe that was talking about a roadmap to decarbonization.
But that really was the global south should just stop developing.
You know, you just stop having polluting industries.
Well, That doesn't work out very well.
China did not take the lead.
What it did is it said, we are here to, in essence, be part of this.
We cannot solve it for you.
But what was clear that came out of the COP 30 is that if the world is going to advance and by that I mean the 85 plus that represents the global South and Central Asia it's going to have to build the mechanism itself.
The global order is broken.
So when you start talking about what's the difference between East and West, the West side is broken.
It's not united.
The major player, the United States, has withdrawn and said it's all a hoax and we're not going to participate.
And you're on your own.
So China has been setting up the regional things, the regional comprehensive economic partnership, which is now the largest trade partnership in the world.
It's participated in ASEAN.
It's participated in Africa, the African Union, CELAC, everything in South America.
And it's setting up a world where China is doing well.
Its trade has actually increased three times faster than it had before with the global south.
Why?
Because The developed world says we're simply not interested in trading with China.
We see it as a threat and we want to de-risk or whatever you want to call it.
They're saying we're pulling out and not that they can.
The world is too interconnected, but they're signaling this and the volume of trade has gone down.
The fact is, they're just raising the cost, because Many of the things they import from other countries actually have a lot of components that come from China.
So China has this thing where it's saying, look, we have to have a new global order.
The United States is resisting it.
Europe is somewhere in between.
And the new global order that China is suggesting is not ideological.
It is very much about values.
And what do I mean by values?
Well, every country should be secure.
And no country's security should depend on the insecurity of another country.
That's the security initiative.
Then you have the development initiative.
Every country has the right to determine how it wants to develop.
No other country has the right to interfere with that development internally.
And then you get to civilization.
The world is not perfect.
Countries were created by accident or by design colonial design not to work but to be dysfunctional.
But you can't undo that.
You couldn't, you know, redraw the world map without having massive conflicts and issues.
So you have to accept them the way they are and you have to respect them.
And to respect them, you have to understand them.
And then the last part is you need to have a system of global governance.
When there are irritants, when there are frictions, how do you solve them?
And there has to be An initiative that says, OK, we're going to meet.
Now, in theory, all of this stuff should have been accomplished through the United Nations.
But the United Nations, as it's constituted today, is not working.
The WTO has been neutered by the United States.
Unwillingness to allow appellate judges to be appointed.
And therefore, it cannot render any final judgments if anybody appeals a lower judgment.
So China is trying very hard to provide an alternate solution. to it.
It's not trying to supplant the U.S.
It's just like Rem and D, Rem and B. They're doing direct trades.
Why does it make sense if China is the number one trade partner with a country, and it is with over 140 plus countries?
Why does it make sense for both sides to be buying and trading in dollars when they can trade directly, especially if you're going to start involving what is, I think, the number one economic driver for new era that's coming, which is small, medium-sized business entities.
These are really the creative entities.
They make up the most number of companies.
They provide the most jobs.
That's where innovations comes from.
But in the past they were limited mainly to domestic markets because of the difficulty and cost of going overseas.
But that's changed.
Digital tools now allow you to advertise logistics.
It gets your stuff there and then there are payment platforms that make sure that you get paid for what you do.
So now you have a robust infrastructure that can unleash the power of these small and medium-sized enterprises.
Why is this important?
Because the Global South doesn't have these big companies.
They have lots of small and medium-sized enterprises, but they have ideas.
And they can be very, very instrumental in, as I said, being a new economic driver for the world, creating niches.
Niches providing goods and services that people want.
They might not want it on a huge scale, but they do want it and they'll pay for it.
And this creates money and jobs, opportunities and goodwill.
Because in order for me to understand what you want, I need to know something about you and your country, your tastes proclivities, and that goes into literature everything, popular culture, etc.
So China has a very positive view of what the world could be with the global south, and one that it is not just paying lip service to, it is actually investing in.
And this is very different from the West, which has made big promises.
700 billion is going to go into some sort of competition to the BRI, but It has not really even materialized.
There's 100 billion that's been floating loosely around as kind of commitments to things that might happen in the future.
But it's not clear how all that's going to happen.
So while the West promises and says, don't trade with China, good things are going to happen.
They're not actually following through with it.
So this, as I see, is the quantitative difference between these approaches.
That's a very thorough analysis.
Einar, some Western countries are now emphasizing de-risking from China.
Even we see growing and deepening cooperation between global South countries and Beijing.
But with more pressure from the United States, for example, will this trend continue?
Yeah, I mean the people that I talk to.
They say look, we'll do anything that's necessary to appease Trump and to not have a direct confrontation.
We're smaller countries.
We cannot afford to take the US on directly.
We're afraid that he would be very vindictive.
We've seen what he's done to other countries.
We're just not in a position to fight the US.
But on the other hand, they all, to a person, are saying, well, but we don't trust the US.
It's no longer a reliable partner.
We do not believe that they have any interest in us as a country, only as vassal states.
And therefore, we have to figure out alternatives.
So those are the ones that are driving the FDI.
I mean, people don't realize this year, FDI was at a record pace, but it wasn't in the US.
Despite everything that Donald Trump says, about $18 trillion, it's not materializing.
People are not going to invest in the US based on policies or I shouldn't say policies tactics that he has.
That will go away as soon as his presidency is over.
That's not long-term commitment, and you don't know what the next guy or lady is going to do.
So he's created a situation where it's very unstable.
No one can figure out what's going on, and that has infected the global south.
So where can they turn to?
What country is stable?
What country is able to stand up to the U.S.?
What country seems to have a set of ideas where countries can work together?
It comes down to China.
It's not China's.
This isn't a conspiracy by China.
This whole opportunity is being created by the United States, because they have turned away from the world, creating a vacuum.
And China has stepped up and said, well, we're not going to do this ourselves.
We're not going to be the hegemon.
But we have this new idea of cooperation consensus, civilized approaches to preventing problems and having a better shared future.
Samir, what's your thoughts?
At the forum, Uruguay's President Ursi stressed that the world needs to remain open, not closed.
Does this reflect a shared sense of anxiety among global thousands of nations about the current international order?
Thank you for raising this very important question.
I think the Uruguayan president Yamando Oris' remarks on keeping the world open and incredibly relevant in today's global context, especially as we face increasing fragmentation and shifting geopolitical dynamics.
What standouts about South-South cooperation, particularly as championed by China?
I think it is the fundamental approach, compared to the more traditional development cooperation models that are typically led by the northern countries.
And the most significant difference lies in the mutual respect and absence of conditionalities that are very important and and that often come with northern led development, you know, assistance and, unlike traditional uh models, where aid is often tied to certain political or economic conditions, such as implementing specific reforms or aligning with western values, south south cooperation is built on the principle of equality and and non-interference, And that is the reason that such kind of a collaboration is, you know, being appreciated by many nations.
And this means that the China and the global South nations collaborate with Latin America and other regions based on shared priorities and interests, rather than imposing, you can say, the external debts.
And one of the key examples of this difference is seen in China's approach to infrastructure development that has really stunned the world in last one decade under the Belt and Road Initiative.
And while many northern countries focus on providing development aid through international financial institutions like IMF or the World Bank, which often involve stringent requirements or restructuring plans, while China offers direct investment in infrastructure through joint ventures and technology transfer,
So I think such kind of a collaboration is really enhancing in today's era.
And the Belt and Road Initiative is a perfect illustration of this.
And it's not just a one-way transfer of resources, but I think it's a collaborative partnership in which Latin American countries have a say in their own development path.
And the focus is on tangible projects like ports, railways and energy grids.
And that have a direct, you know, immediate impact on the region's economic growth.
So I think either it is about the Uruguayan president they're talking about or the other.
You know the stakeholders or the participating nations they are talking about.
This is the distinguishing feature of the South-South model promoted by China.
And it is the emphasis on sustainable development without the historical baggage.
That is very significant.
And in contrast to some northern models which have sometimes been, you know, criticized for their colonial legacy or prioritization of short-term profits.
South-South collaboration tends to promote a long-term development that's more aligned with the Raspbian countries' need.
And I think such kind of a collaboration have its sustainable future and it will go on in a longer way.
Samir, earlier you mentioned that South-South cooperation serves as a key component of China's overall foreign policy strategy.
Some Western commentary argues that China is promoting South-South cooperation to counter Western influence or even to form new geopolitical blocs.
How do you respond to this interpretation?
Yeah, I think this is a very usual rhetoric that we always get through the Western mindset or the mentality that is talking about China.
I think the interpretation that China is promoting South-South cooperation as a strategic countermeasure to the Western influence or to form a new geopolitical bloc is one that I believe misreads the true nature and intent of this cooperation.
And while it's clear that China's rise on the global stage has brought it into the competition with Western powers, but this China's peaceful rise is really attracting the beneficial results for the countries who are collaborating with China, as I have already talked about under various platforms.
And the interpretation or the narration or the narratives that are being pushed by the Western mindsets.
I think now they are not getting that much appreciation or they are not getting that much attention from the global media outlets.
I think if you are really commenting on China's developmental strategies or China's diplomatic strategies, I think you should have to visit China.
You should have to interact with the policymakers here.
You should have to interact with the Communist Party of China officials, as they are very much open to interact with you and to respond on your questions.
I, while having an experience of more than know, 12 years, while working in china on on various affairs and traveling across china, i have really been, you know welcomed, while whenever we have we are asking questions or we are interviewing the officials.
So i think such kind of interactions will open at the mindset of the western mentalities that has a biased attitude or approach towards the chinese.
You know affairs, global affairs.
So I think, rather than, you know, viewing it through the lens of the geopolitical competition, it should be understood as a movement towards more inclusive and multilateral development that doesn't rely on the traditional models of aid and conditional support often associated with Western countries or institutions like the IMF or the World Bank.
Like if you give me a time, I would like to talk about that.
For example, if I talk about Pakistan or the other South Asian countries, The loans, the financial loans that are coming from the IMF or the World Bank or the other European countries, they are very much conditional with the political you can say the realities of the nations.
They are always have the do more kind of intentions and the financial assistance that is coming from China.
It doesn't carry any kind of the conditionality for any country.
It is rather about the mutual consultation and the meaningful results.
So I think there is a huge difference in these two mindsets and two working dynamics and the patterns that on one side, the Western mindset is there.
On the other side, the China is trying to help the partner countries.
So I think those people, those guys who are, you know, misinterpreting the narratives, I think they should.
The China's doors are open and they should, I think, try to visit China and to see with their own eyes and they should get the firsthand experience that how China's diplomacy, foreign policy, or the economic development, or the financial aid, international financial assistance, is going on.
Gentlemen, one last question.
Let's look ahead to 2026.
Briefly Einar, in one sentence what's your key expectation or prediction for China-Global South cooperation in 2026?
It will continue to expand.
China pushes very pragmatic values versus the United States, and the West is pushing ideological purity.
Zamir in one sentence.
Please share your most important expectation or prediction for China's cooperation with the Global South next year.
Yeah, I think, I believe and I expect that China's experience of the technological developments in this recent era of artificial intelligence, the big data, the cloud computing, the blockchain, that I believe and I view and expect that this kind of a collaboration and the technology transfer from China is going to be expanded with the global South nations in 2026.
Thanks, gentlemen, for those in-depth analysis.
Aynur Tengan, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, a Canadian think tank.
Mohamed Zamir Asadi, Editor of China Desk, Internews Pakistan.
That's all the time for this edition of World Today.
I'm Ge'Anna.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
