ASEAN-GCC-China Summit: What's driving the trilateral cooperation?
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Hello and welcome to World Today, I'm Zhao Ying. Coming up, Chinese Premier Li Qian is in Malaysia to participate in the first ASEAN-GCC China Summit. What's driving this trilateral momentum? The European Union says it remains fully committed to reaching a trade agreement with the U.S. What's at stake in their negotiations?

Premier Li Cheng says China is ready to deepen strategic alignment with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Addressing the inaugural ASEAN-China GCC summit in Kuala Lumpur, Premier Li also called for enhancing coordination of macroeconomic policies.

He called on the three sides to support each other in addressing new challenges in the course of development and to foster new models of international industrial and economic cooperation. For more, we are joined by Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank based in Beijing. The ASEAN-China GCC summit involves 17 nations with the aim to enhance multilateral cooperation

What do you think brings these countries together and how significant is this trilateral mechanism for addressing global economic and geopolitical challenges? Yes, I think this trilateral conference that among ASEAN, GCC and China is really significant. And it's the first time actually it's inaugural.

meeting that to be held in ASEAN, the chair in Malaysia, chair country in Malaysia. So I think also Chinese Premier Li Qiang is going there and also other heads of state from ASEAN and GCC countries. So it's the first time that you had this trilateral summit

which is very significant. It has about over two billion population. That's quite significant, over 20-25% of global population. And then you have another 20-25% of global GDP. And also their economy are highly supplementary and also there's enormous growth and development space

for the three parties, three different regional countries. So I think it's also innovative ideas and also a new impetus for the collaboration among the global South countries. And also it demonstrates that ASEAN, China and GCC are taking some leadership in forming this kind of economic partnership

activities really against this backdrop of trade wars, tensions, geopolitical tension. And it shows that our countries has all those relevant capabilities and resources and determination to further collaborate and to have a better future for their own people and for the benefit of the world.

Yeah, as you said, these countries together account for 25% of global population and GDP. So with their significant demographic and economic weight, how can this trilateral mechanism influence global trade rules and promote a multilateral trading system in the face of rising protectionism? I think that those three regions, particularly China, ASEAN,

and also to sometimes just as a country the biggest active participant in a globalization process particularly in economic globalization for example asean have a very young dynamic working population china has developed its highly industrial capabilities and also infrastructure

capabilities and GCC countries are rich in resources and in energy reserves and also in capital. So if you think about these three plus strong capabilities adds up, you had the market, you had a young working population, you have the capital. And then so that really formed a very strong further alliance of globalization in terms of economic activities

And also we have RCEP, China and ASEAN are in RCEP, the three largest trade agreement, and GCC countries are richest countries in the world. So I think those provided a very good collaboration, new model and new methodology and new paradigm shift to against this trade tensions, tariff wars,

restrictions, small fans, high fans, small yard, or big fans, big yard. I think those countries have used their action to really say no to those things. And basically, this is a strong impetus and strong push for global economic liberalization and global economic growth.

and also which is a set of good examples among the global south countries, how they can really stood up and stand up and also work together.

to really weather the storm of protectionism, regionalism, and populism. So this is, I see this inaugural summit, inaugural event, highly relevant and highly significant. And it also shows that

the 25% of the quarter of the global population and economy, GDP, is really put some solidarity together to say no to the

trade tariffs and trade wars. Yeah. And if we look at the three parties in this cooperation framework, they each have their own strengths, such as China's industrial scale, the GCC's capital and energy resources, and ASEAN's demographic dividend. So how can they complement one another in practical investment and trade terms?

Well, absolutely. I think, for example, China is already building one of the fastest speedway in Indonesia, in ASEAN, from Bandung to Jakarta, which cut the four-hour traffic to 40 minutes.

That's a vivid example, and China also, China allows to have connected that to ASEAN economy as well. And China is building or plan to build railway networks in Malaysia, in Thailand, and in Vietnam. So you can see ASEAN will be super connected by the China infrastructure network.

capabilities. And then also on the other hand, you see JCCC countries are really in this great transition of energy and China's capability in green power, solar panels and the EV cars can add enormous transition capability to JCCC countries.

And I think of also, Jisoo's country has a lot of capital. They can really invest into these new forms of collaboration and cooperation. And also you see ASEAN has the youngest dynamic population and expansion in a fastest growing economy also in the world for this region as a whole. So this combination of three regions will demonstrate

each other's strong points. And I see this as really an ideal combination, to say the least, to tackle the deficit of infrastructure, deficit of energy transition, and also can help China in terms of with this aging population and probably saturated market to some extent,

and also can stimulate more Chinese consumptions in terms of having more trading opportunities with ASEAN and GCC countries. Of course, ASEAN is the largest trading part of China and GCC, all GCC countries

uh chinese the larger trading bond with all gcc countries so there's enormous uh internal uh inter activities among those countries and i think that will be a strong uh stabilizer and and also prosperity contributor to the world that we are having this uncertainty among all the countries

Yeah, and Premier Li emphasized cooperation in AI, the green economy and infrastructure. How do these priorities align with the development strategies of ASEAN and GCC countries? Yes, I think this is very significant. And ASEAN and GCC countries really need a lot of cooperation.

AI and infrastructure, and the infrastructure I already mentioned just now, but for the AI, China has actually with this innovative deep seek and also six more dragons and all those automations

we're going to revolutionize a new era for the AI, for developing countries, for global south countries, because the model of China developed is relatively cheap, uses less sophisticated chips, but also has the same capacity of calculating and also it's an open system, whereas probably some countries are using closed systems. So this has a huge implication.

for the vast developing countries, global source countries. So where they have the data, they have a good mining of the data with Chinese AI models and big calculation power that we can see in the future, the automation, the autopilot and the EV cars and also the automation system. We have another upgrade with these three regions collaboration, which they don't lack capital, they don't lack market

They are full of innovative entrepreneurs. So this basically means three biggest market among the world will be really complementary to push forward digital world, AI world, and of course, green transition that the world is really badly in need now.

Yeah. And what are the prospects for institutionalizing this trilateral platform? Like, could it evolve into a more formalized economic bloc or a South-South cooperation model?

Well, I certainly think this has huge potential because I think they're having this inaugural meeting this time in Malaysia, but hopefully they can be institutionalized as an annual meeting or bilateral, bi-annual meetings. And second, I think that we already have RCEP and

which is the largest free trade agreement in the world, we could expand that. We could admit GCC countries to be members of RCEP

And thirdly, also, we could propose some kind of free trade arrangement and free investment arrangement among those three regions as well. China just upgraded its free trade agreement with ASEAN. China could probably do similar things for GCC countries. And also, let's combine all three of them together to upgrade together as well.

There is Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank based in Beijing. The Chinese finance ministry says Moody's decision to affirm China's A1 rating is a positive reflection of the improving prospects for the country's economy.

Since the fourth quarter of last year, the Chinese government has implemented a series of policies. The ministry says economic indicators in China have improved and market confidence has stabilized since then. With more, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Professor Qu Qiang, a fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center at Minzu University of China.

So, Professor Qu Qiang, first tell us what does the A1 rating mean? And for Moody's decision to affirm China's A1 rating, what does it suggest for China's economy?

Well, I think the current performance of Chinese economy and the Chinese financial market actually proved that Moody's decision and its reason. I think ever since the Q1, if you take a look at the numbers of our economic growth, the GDP growth is at 5.4%.

and the CPI and the PPI are basically very stable. So I think this is within a very reasonable range of changes. And also if we take a look at the financial market, the financial market for stock market in China, bond market in China are all very, very stable. For example, if we take a look at the stock market, it's been rising from the bottom of 2,700 points.

ever since the Q3 of last year. And until now, it's been very much stabilized at the 3,300 points or so.

So I think the whole world has been seeing that. And right now, investing in China has become the common sense for the global investors. We've been hearing lots of the prospect from the global security companies and brokerages like Nomura, like Goldman Sachs. They've been saying that one beauty of Chinese market is right now very, very certain, very, very stable, especially against the current turbulent and chaotic situation.

And I think this kind of certainty means a lot for the financial market. And also the bond market is doing very well. So that's the reason why you see the renminbi exchange rate has been rising to 7.17 against the US dollar. So I think this is actually another important sign showing the capital is flowing into China means the stability and also the rating for international credit is very, very reasonable.

And as you mentioned, currently the global economy faces multiple challenges. For example, the insufficient growth momentum, geopolitical tensions, and increasingly instability in the international trade and economic order. So how do you assess the current state of China's economy among all this? And is China's economy more resilient to external shocks now?

oh yes I do think so um the Chinese economy right now is also at the very important epiphone moment uh uh we are not going to deny that uh the current international backdrop is not very in favor of Chinese growth for example the tariff conflicts has been everywhere not only hurting China but also hurting the multilateral trading system of the whole world isn't hurting China and China's

uh those most important trading partners like european union like japan like south korea as well as the very vast global south nations so under such a circumstances chinese economy stale growth as you know of uh 5.4 percent in the q1 and also being seeing there are a very you know good record you know trade surplus has been you know into chinese a trade account trading account and also the chinese service sectors has been rising up very quickly

As we mentioned several times, China has an ambition to enter the mid and high income level of the economy. So one requirement for you to cross that threshold is that your service sectors must be larger than 50% in your GDP growth share. China right now, in the GDP growth, the service sector is still not there quite yet.

But now, I think from the year of 2023, 2024, and now, we've been seeing the service sectors are growing really, really fast, like in tourism, like in the museum, the culture, exhibition. And all kinds of this industry has become the new trend in the consumption of the whole society in China. If you come to China, if you go to the social media in China, you understand what's going on.

also high-tech high-tech and a new quality protective forces is basically another very important that you know letter trying to want to climb up to because all the developed economy all the high-income economy actually they will have one or two commanding hide in the technology technology savvy industry and technology savvy modernization will be the feature of those mature economy trying wants to be like that so like EV like

digitalization devices like the green energy these are the strong suit rising up in China right now and also China has become the champion is that kind of act sectors in a whole world so I think with all these you know like the BYD like the deep-seek like Huawei like you know the fighter jet of the next generation and all this are showing China are managing to do so so I think up

Upon all these observations, I could say our Chinese economy is very resilient. And also we have 1.4 billion population, you know, probably the second largest effective market of the whole world for consumption. So I think we have all the reason to be very, you know, optimistic. And some people say that reshaping China's export-driven model requires recalibration of internal market demand. So how do you think can China achieve a dual circulation model?

Well, yes, we have to understand that. Dual circulation means we really, on one hand, need to focus on competitiveness outside the world, in the international arena, but also we need to focus on rising up the domestic income level for the households to increase the job market, improve the job market.

and also to perfect and better our social security systems. So that will reduce the burden and put back more of the money into the pocket of the people. So that will enable them to consume and increase their willingness to consume. And secondly, I think China, what they need to do is to optimize its consumption environment, for example, to...

bash those knockoffs and improve the service, you know, quality and nurture the new trend for the consumptions so that we will have, you know, more of the growth point in the consumption area. A lot of people probably they don't understand. They say, OK,

In the era of oversupply, we will need more of the demand. Actually, you're wrong. In this new era of economy, actually supply will decide the demand. So before you have a new iPhone been invented, your most luxury dream probably is to have the best Nokia, right?

But now we are entering the smartphone era, which means this new supply and system actually are helping people to upgrade their consumption and also creating during this process, creating more better and high quality job with more income so that the whole society will get upgraded. And last but not least, I think we will

down put more of the investment on infrastructures and also on the modernization technologies. So the whole society's platform of income and job quality will be upgraded so that this consumption market will be solidified inside of China.

And we've seen many investment banks have raised their projections for China's economic growth after a high-level China-U.S. economic and trade meetings in Geneva. So how can China stabilize the job market among the trade tensions with the U.S.? Well, I think number one is that we, you know, when we get back home, we actually started another round of the policy package,

uh number one we try to you know uh put more of the stimulus into our consumption area and investment so you're seeing uh many government uh you know supported you know big project has been on the way and also the trading policy to support the consumption market has already been you know uh you know uh expanded and continued for this q2 and right now we've been welcoming the uh

18th of June shopping festival online and this policy will also be supporting the shopping festivals and also the government has issued many policies to train the labor forces, skill training, vocational guidance and also the technology

upgrading support for many enterprises and also beyond a ways government has been providing lots of the loans and also the subsidies for these enterprises to replenish their old equipment and upgrade their old technologies

so that they can create more value and also social security as we just mentioned and also a larger scale the counter cyclical regulatory measures for the macro economy is also on the way so i think through all this uh you know package of the policy combo i think uh we're trying to solidify the domestic uh you know job market i think that's the reason why many investment banks is

Based on that has rising up Chinese economic prospect. And despite the U.S. tariffs, China attracted a significant net capital inflow into its bond and equity markets in April. So how do you explain that? And can we expect more foreign investment in Chinese assets? Oh, yes. As we just mentioned, a lot of the investment banks and international financial companies have been rating China as very certain.

very stable economy, especially against the current international turbulence. The Chinese government's long-term vision and stability in the policies actually make sure that international funds will have a haven for stable performances in a portfolio. Especially currently, a lot of the short-term funds really need not so high but very stable market interest rate.

they found China is actually a very ideal place to seek. And also, I think Chinese government's vision for a high-quality growth, for modernization, actually has always been very, very continuous and also

So being very stable and also the Chinese government to make sure very, very clearly we're going to open up our market to the international investors and market. We're going to have easing monetary policy and that will never change in a foreseeable future. So that make all those international money rest assured.

Based on that, I think international companies right now has been buy-in China more and more. We've been seeing many sovereign found and also very big investment banking the whole world are adding up their portfolio in China, off China. So I think this is just another proof. So I think at the end of this year, we're going to see a new round of inbound investment from the International Financial Society coming into China. And by that,

I think by then, I think we will have a rather more good environment, a better environment for the financial growth and stability. That is Professor Qu Qian with the Minzu 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 Ying. Indonesia has hosted the inaugural Global Business Summit on Belt and Road Infrastructure Investment in Jakarta. Policymakers, business leaders, and innovators gathered to explore ways to scale up investment in critical infrastructure projects.

The summit unveiled nine initiatives launched by Chinese enterprises and international partners, focusing on green transformation, technological education, renewable energy and sustainable rural development.

The summit also saw the launch of an action network aimed at advancing sustainable development within the China-Indonesia community. For more, my colleague Gao Yingshi spoke with Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow at the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The summit was hosted by Indonesia's government. What does this signify about Indonesia's strategic role in the BRI framework? And how does this position demonstrate Indonesia's capacity to drive regional cooperation? Yes, we know that Indonesia is one of the main countries in the Belt and Road regions.

So it has a lot of interactions with other countries under the BRI framework. So as a main country, the ASEAN country, I think that Indonesia is playing a very important role to decide where we should go for the better connections with other countries. And for Indonesia themselves, they have a lot of demands on

trying to connect the different islands of its country and trying to better facilitate its capacities on the development. So I would say that will provide us with more examples and good experiences in doing that. And as you may find that this time Indonesia is the first country out of China

who are going to host the BRI-related discussion on the different issues under the commercial cooperation. So I would say that for any countries under the BRI framework, they have the desire to improve their position in the corporation and also trying to improve its abilities to have a better understanding about this concept and trying to give more context on the

more diversified areas of the corporation. - And according to recent reports, there are four Chinese companies that are set to invest in Indonesia's EV industry. So what are the major driving forces behind these investment decisions?

Well, we know that electronic vehicles are kind of brand new areas for many countries, even for China. We are still in the process of discovering what is the best way to addressing the challenges of transfer from the traditional energy to the new one.

As for Indonesia, they have their specific characteristics. They do not need too large batteries for the EVs. They have a very special taste on the designing of these EVs. So I think the Chinese companies are doing something to explore the demand from the local market and they want to

have a better accommodation to the demand of these customers. So these investments are really beneficial for both sides. For Chinese companies, they are able to explore their abilities in the new market, a very large one, especially the largest population countries in ASEAN. And for the Indonesian companies, they can try to have better connections in the supply chains.

I think these collections will help them to also boost their own capacities in the EV-related industries and that is quite beneficiary for them to adapt to the new challenges under the climate change. And even for other ASEAN countries, I think that Indonesia's companies will have a better

position in competing with their competitors, maybe in these regions and also to improve their efficiency and the usage of these EVs in different kind of scenarios.

Yes, recent BRI forums have increasingly emphasized small but beautiful projects such as the micro business support initiatives covering about 1,500 small stores across China and Southeast Asia. So what drives the shift towards smaller scale projects and how do these grassroots initiatives contribute to expanding regional economic integration?

Well, it is true that the world is under some change. I think that change is not coming from just the pro-technism, but also from the development of the technology. So if you are looking at the economic trend, I would say that the trend is a little bit different

Maybe in the past we believed that every year we will have a better performance compared with the last year. But now the logic has been changed to how can we have a sustainable and resilient development in the coming days or coming weeks or even months. So I think that is a really different or a transfer of the characteristics.

So in the past, maybe we focused too much on the large projects because they really benefit us for providing more job opportunities and trying to increase the sustainable development in the different areas and trying to use the resources more wisely. But now we want to find some smaller opportunities. And that's the reason why we are seeing that small and

small and medium-sized enterprises, they are more active in this belt and the road cooperation. Well, for the government, I think it is also true that we have to take care about the weaker part of this economy. And that means that small and medium-sized enterprises should be

paid more attention and for the low-income families, the people of the poor stations, I would say they need more support. So we are encouraging the smaller scale projects because they can really address the different and diversified demands of the market and benefit the economies with more different ways of innovations.

Building infrastructure has been a key characteristic of the Build and Road Initiative, but this summit specifically focuses on sustainable infrastructure. So based on your experience, what new requirements and standards differentiate sustainable infrastructure from the traditional one? Actually, in my understanding, there may be two levels. The first one is that sustainable means that we have to make these projects themselves sustainable physically,

So they can just have a better return in the coming periods, which can pay back its initial investment and the cost. But the second level of sustainability is about its relation with its environment. So when the sustainable projects are built, they do not harm too much about the environment. They will have a better coordination with the animals and nature.

so sustainable really means something that we want to adhere to because the world is trying to do more sustainable way of development we are under pressure and we are also in the challenges of the climate change we have to be very careful about the infrastructure because they are changing the relations between us and the nature so the sustainable

infrastructure has become more prevalent in many areas like the green architectures or sustainable supply chains and also sustainable energy uses. So these are all the new things that we have to take care of.

and against the backdrop of rising global trade protectionism and tariff wars, how does the Belt and Road Initiative's open and inclusive principle provide a viable alternative to protectionist economic policies?

I think that the main principle of the BRI is that we have to respect each other, we have to understand each other and we have to hear from each other. So we build together and we are going to share the achievements together.

So this means that we are not just trying to see the world from just one side, from one angle. We have to respect the other side's consideration about these problems. So in this regard, I think that is definitely different from what we are seeing as the protagonism and also the illiterate. But the second, I think it's also interesting about the BRI because we are trying to make more connections

so the connections are able to provide us with more possibilities and the possibility means that we can try to solve the problem if one way is blocked we can try to change it to another way but from you know some of the pro-technism they are trying to build the walls again around themselves so this is definitely not so good for the efficiency and also the corporate

integration and different mechanism. I think that is quite what we are going to understand that BRI is not just some concept proposed by China. It is an idea, it is kind of a suggestion. We proposed that maybe we can do more by mutual recognition, mutual respect and under that framework, we can explore any possible ways of the development.

but the main idea is the interconnection. So I think that is a way for us to increase our relations among us instead of just decrease the relations and increase the one-way dependence on some country. So this is definitely not our kind of radiation patterns. We are building a network

The network is trying to give the different stakeholders or participants the equal rights to participate in this kind of cooperation to the future development. That is Dr. Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, speaking with Gao Yingshi. This is World Today. Stay with us.

You're listening to World Today. I'm Zhao Ying. The European Union's lead trade negotiator says the bloc remains fully committed to reaching an agreement with the United States. Maros Sivkovic made the remarks following his phone call with U.S. trade officials. He said that EU and U.S. officials continue to stay in contact.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated last Friday that the trade talks with the EU were going nowhere and announced a 50% tariff on the EU starting June 1. He then moved the date to July 9 after speaking with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. For more, we are joined by Dr. Li Lun, Assistant Professor of Economics at Peking University. Thanks for joining us, Dr. Li.

Thanks for having me. Yeah. So first of all, how would you interpret Trump's decision to delay those 50% tariffs to July the 9th? And how significant is this delay for the course of the negotiations?

So Trump's reversal of his policies came 48 hours after he made the surprising initial announcement on Friday with the threat of 50% tariff on products from Europe. So he was given a phone call by Von der Leyen on Sunday

and basically asked for more time, which Trump agreed. So this basically, you know, the market responded positively. We see that the U.S. and EU equity markets, stock markets, you know, bounced immediately. But in terms of the significance,

I think first it doesn't buy the euro additional time. The July 9th deadline was set previously in April after the three months that extension to the original deadline. And also in terms of negotiation, we are only six weeks apart from the new deadline, which is very short in terms of making the Brussels

all 27 member countries reach an agreement with respect to the new tariffs and new policy. So I think both sides will have to keep negotiating and hopefully reach a better trade deal. So what's really at stake in these talks for both sides? How much leverage does each party actually have as they head into negotiations?

yeah so from the u.s side it really wants to shrink the 235 billion dollars in terms of deficit uh trump also want to bring you know high-end manufacturing back to the united states he said in an interview that he's not interested in jobs that manufacturers

T-shirts or socks, but he's more interested in jobs that manufactures computer chips and AI related industries. So he basically by doing that, he's showing his power of will. He wants to score a political win within his domestic voters. But in terms of EU's

request or stake, EU really wants to end the current 25% tariff on steel, aluminum, as well as cars. And also, of course, they want to avert the 50% jump. In addition, EU also want to make sure that no local job, especially manufacturing jobs, for example, in Germany, with respect to export market,

And finally, I think the EU is interested in terms of keeping its autonomy intact. It doesn't want to be coerced by the US. So, I mean, both sides have some leverage.

On the U.S. side, you know, Trump, his advantage is that he often act alone and act very fast. His policies are announced on True Social a day before or very suddenly. In terms of, so this gives the U.S. a great advantage of, you know, in terms of

policy swiftness in terms of EU. I think they initiate a $21 billion package already. Basically, it's a retaliatory retaliatory tariff against US policies, and there is a wider 95

billion Euro list, which could be implemented if the trade talk goes out. There is also a bunch of anti coercion instruments, for example, a bunch of legal tools that would allow Brussels to hit US goods services investments if the trade talks doesn't go smoothly.

Yeah, and we know that the EU is actually pushing a 0-4-0 tariff proposal on industrial goods. I mean, is that a feasible starting point or does it fall short of Trump's expectations?

So the initial zero for zero tariff proposal was initiated back in April. So what it means is that, you know, EU offers to eliminate all tariffs on industrial goods and cars imported from the US in terms of getting the same treatment from the US. But back in April, Trump wasn't satisfied with the offer.

So in an interview, he said he wasn't so it's not enough to reach a trade deal. So now, you know, almost two months later, there's nothing new on the plate. I highly doubt if Trump will accept the new terms without any additional offers. That said, I mean, it really depends on how the trade talks and negotiation is going.

Yeah, and also the United States has demanded concessions on what it called non-tariff barriers like EU food safety standards and digital services taxes. How likely is that the EU will budge on these issues?

Well, I mean, the US's argument is that, you know, the EU's food safety regulations, for example, they're banning hormone traded beef and, for example, genetically modified food. These policies act as a trade barrier against

American agricultural exports. The US also claimed that the digital service tax implemented by several EU member states is a fairly target to major US companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook because they tax revenues generated from digital services and most of these services are from US companies. So I think

Actually, back in 2020, in Trump's last term, the U.S. already announced duties on French goods, basically putting a 25 percent tariff on French hazmat bags, cosmetics, and soaps. So this time is a repetition of that policy. So I think Trump's request is going to be strong and tough.

How likely that the EU is going to budge on these issues really depends on the member states, because many of these policies are decided domestically by the member states. So how likely is that the member states are going to reach an agreement, change the legislation, and go to Brussels to make the trade deal all within six weeks? I think it's quite unlikely that this is feasible.

Yeah, so how unified is the EU internally in its approach to Donald Trump and the US tariffs? Like, are there any notable divisions within the bloc that could perhaps complicate the negotiations?

So generally, I think EU is pretty unified in terms of having a united response to US trade policies under President Trump. But there are also some divisions, especially with Hungary, because for example, in terms of the EU sanction to Russia, Hungary

threaten to veto the EU sanction back in March. So it could be, you know, there could be some disagreements also based on the economic interest. For example, you know, countries like Germany have a significant automobile export to the US, which, you know, could work

for example, advocate for more swift negotiations and faster trade deals, while other member states may prioritize other sectors. So it really depends on the decision making process in Brussels and how fast can people put together a trade deal in six weeks. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Li Lun, Assistant Professor of Economics at Peking University. You're listening to World Today. We'll be back.

This is World Today. I'm Zhao Ying. Pakistani Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif has expressed willingness to talk with India over all issues, including Kashmir, water sharing and counterterrorism. The comments came during his visit to Iran, which is part of his four-nation tour that also takes him to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

In the meantime, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a stern warning to Pakistan, saying that its people should either come forward to end terror or be ready to face bullets. For more, we are joined by Wang Jin, associate professor at Northwest University in Xi'an, China. Dr. Wang, thanks for joining us. It's my great pleasure. So what do you make of Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif's latest offer of talks with India?

I think it's a very clear message sent by Pakistan that Pakistan wants peace with India, and Pakistan wants to end the war with India and these negative outcomes and influences after the war. And also Pakistan wants to seek new opportunities of peace with India because India is one of the most important neighbors. And also the peace between the two countries will benefit the whole regional stability in South Asia.

So that is why I think Pakistan represents and shows its very responsible voice and role in the peace-making in South Asia. And also Pakistan hopes to reach the kind of breakthrough

with its relations of India by showing this kind of very positive and proactive role for facilitating the possibilities of peace with India. Yeah, we know that he is on this four-nation tour. What do you think he is primarily looking for through this journey? I think he hopes to reach two things. On the one hand, he hopes to express a very deep

thanks to some countries who once offered important assistance to Pakistan during the war with India. For example, we know that Turkey was a very important country during the war between Pakistan and India. I mean, several weeks ago, because Turkey actually transferred several waves of military weapons to Pakistan and also offered important assistance or even very key assistance

in the military way to help Pakistan in the air force combat with India. So that is why he hopes to show his thanks towards Turkey and other countries to

find the ways that Pakistan wants to express their thanks. And on the other hand, I think the Pakistani Prime Minister Shaghy hopes to find ways or find bridges by this visit to facilitate the possibilities of peace with India, because we know that for some countries such as, for example, India,

such as, for example, Azerbaijan or maybe Tajikistan. These countries have both relations with India as well as with Pakistan. And these countries can play the kind of role for facilitating the peace and also establishing a kind of bridge for communication and dialogue between India and Pakistan. So that is why I think

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shari'a's visit would be understood very clearly, very important, and he hopes to, on the one hand, express his thanks, and also to facilitating peace. Yes, and also he mentioned that he mentioned a willingness to talk trade. So can trade really be insulated from the larger political conflict with India, or is that kind of unrealistic under the current circumstances?

I think everything should be considered as very important choices on the negotiation table, I mean the possible negotiation table with India from Pakistan. Because Pakistan has already shown that they want talks and they are willing to hold talks directly with India or indirectly with India by the channels established by the third party. And also Pakistanis also wanted to establish kind of peace with India based upon mutual respect and mutual equality with each other.

So that is why I think Pakistan and India will have the chance to establish peace. And also, when we're talking about peace, we're talking about not only to end the war, but also maybe, for example, to establish new business connections, new cooperation and new cooperative networks. So that is why I think these things will be very important. And we hope that these, and we also expect

that his visits and the sheriff's visits will witness the very positive and proactive feedbacks from Indian side and to end the war and to start the possibilities of new peace.

Yeah, but actually, in the meantime, on the same day as Pakistan Prime Minister offered talks, Modi has issued a stern warning to Pakistan and he said, Pakistani people must come forward to end terrorism or face bullets. So what do you make of his message? And could this kind of language harden the nationalist sentiment on both sides?

I think of course, because when Modi said that Pakistan has to make a choice between making concessions or facing the kind of bullets, it means actually Modi does not respect Pakistan. And it shows that the Indian government does not respect Pakistan's very active and very willingness of peace.

So that is why I think it's kind of words from Modi and from the Indian government would further worsen the situation between India and Pakistan, also might further harden the kind of the environment and atmosphere between India and Pakistan for the possibilities of peace. So that is why I think maybe India should soften its

kind of the words because of course India still holds the water of the Indo River by the dams and makes a very large area of drought in the latter areas of the river, particularly inside the territories of Pakistan. And of course that India would still hold a very assertive or even a very aggressive

way toward the so-called terrorism and so-called extremism inside Pakistan or Pakistan-controlled Kashmir area. But these, when we're talking about the very strong or even the very aggressive words, aggressive words cannot solve the problem. Aggressive words cannot end hatred. So that is why I think maybe new dialogues and new ways of communication should be reconsidered as a very key and the only way to end the rivalries and

the hatred that harms both India and also Pakistan. Yes. So what should the international community's role be right now? Like, is meditation possible or has the world kind of effectively accepted this conflict as an unresolved, you know, regional thought line?

I think the international community of course hoped that the war could be ended and the hatred could be controlled and the escalation of tension should be further decreased. So that is why it's very positive and the good willingness of the international community towards what is happening between India and Pakistan. And also I think that there were many things the international community could do

First of all, the international community may further strengthen their shared voice and shared opinion over what is happening and what should happen in the next period of the relations between India and Pakistan. If the international society could express much more strong willingness for peace, I think that would benefit.

And also, I think on the other hand, the international community could help establish the new communication channel because there is no direct communication channel for peace right now between Pakistan and India to end the war, to find new solutions and to reach a kind of a very comprehensive agreement.

So that is why I think the international community should find ways to help both sides to sit down and to start a new dialogue or to start a new communication channel through indirect or direct way. So that is why I think a lot of things that the international community could

do. And last but not least, I think everyone should encourage the possibilities of peace for India and Pakistanis. Okay, thank you, Dr. Wang Jin, Associate Professor at Northwest University in Xi'an, China. And that's all the time we have for this edition of World Today. I'm Zhao Ying. Thank you so much for listening. See you next time.