Exploring key messages from China’s premier at Summer Davos
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Hello and welcome to World Today, I'm Ding Hen in Beijing. Coming up: At the ongoing Summer Divorce Forum, China's Premier Li Qiang calls on countries to collaborate on trade despite rising barriers. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Beijing calls for genuine de-escalation in the Middle East.

The Chinese mainland criticizes Taiwan's leader Lai Ching-te for distorting history and spreading heresy in a recent speech. And China has proposed a legal boost for low-altitude economy in aviation law amendment. To listen to this episode again or to catch up on our previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.

First up, Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called on the international community to take actions in economic and trade collaboration. He made a remark on Wednesday in a keynote address to the ongoing Summer Devils Forum in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. Premier Li Qiang called for more efforts to safeguard free trade and multilateralism and promote a stable development of the world economy.

He added that China will continue to foster a first-class business environment and welcome businesses from all countries to deepen their roots in China. So joining us now on the line is Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics with the University of International Business and Economics.

Thank you very much for joining us today, Professor Liu. First of all, do you agree with this point raised by the Chinese premier that economic globalization will not be reversed, it will only carve out a new path?

Definitely. I very much agree because economic globalization represents the common pursuit of all human beings. Freedom of exchange based on comparative advantage is a strong hallmark for civilization and investment. So right now there is rising protectionism and also geopolitical tensions.

It's fundamental, it's still there and getting even stronger in terms of the exchange between nations, between different companies.

on the technology, on the goods and services. So market integration and the pursuit of efficiency is still there. So we are seeing is not really a reversal, but a sort of a transformation. So globalization is becoming more regionalized, getting more digital and getting more complex. So rather than retreating

countries and businesses are getting more adaptive to the new form of interconnectedness, market by resilience, sustainability, and also digital integration. So what we need is to restore the trust of the invisible hand, which is there to regulate the market economy and service the common good of all participants within the exchange process. Now,

Li Qiang noted that some countries or regions have interfered in market activity in the name of de-risking, and he called on all sides not to turn trade into a political issue or a security issue,

Now, I guess many of those de-risking or decoupling talks are surrounded at or are targeted at China's business or economic activity internationally. Frankly speaking, Professor Liu, do you think it is realistic to try to decouple China from the existing global supply chains?

I don't think so. A full-scale decoupling of China from a global supply chain is neither realistic nor economically rational. China remains deeply embedded in the world economy.

and the comparative advantage is getting more adaptive to the global need environment so it is really a critical hub for manufacturing for innovation for conception and also open for cooperation in the chinese market to service the chinese drive for high quality growth so any attempt

at decoupling, especially in the high tech sector, may fragment the supply chain and give further cost to the innovation and also to doing business. So they are going to create more inefficiency in the global marketplace.

So even with the de-risking strategy, which is a lesser degree, most of economies, including those who are really pursuing them, are finding it necessary to maintain a stable trade and investment tie with China. And China is also very aggressively defending the multilateral trading system. And diversification may happen, but a systematic and direct

Deep driven decoupling is highly improbable in the global context. The Chinese premier also said that China's innovation is open and open source and that China is willing to share its indigenous technologies.

Why do you think China is open to sharing its technologies with the rest of the world at a time when China's own access to certain countries' advanced technologies is increasingly being restricted?

I think first China should be grateful to many parts of the world in which we became a lead comer for global innovation. And now with the reform of open door policy, China is able to stand on its own feet but still collaborate with the rest of the world, both in terms of exporting and importing of its own technologies.

But right now, China is getting far stronger. It is there to reciprocate the world with its own indigenous technologies, many of which are really open source. It signals a very strong commitment to global collaboration in the innovation. It positions China as a responsible player in the global technological ecosystem.

And also by sharing technologies, we are able to generate more of the market need and also that we are exercising more of our own responsibility to the global public goods in terms of green transition and paving the way for digital infrastructure. So China is also helping those global South countries to gain better independence by operating

operating on their own because we never really impose any political conditions on them. So through the Belt and Road Program, the soft power of the Global South will be further fostered by working together with China in good faith and in generosity. So we are building a new alliance and export market for the Chinese solutions which can benefit largely of the world.

On the Chinese economy, Premier Li Cheng said China is stepping up the efforts to implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand with a goal to promote China's growth into a major consumption powerhouse based on this solid foundation of a major manufacturing powerhouse. So can China be a consumption powerhouse and a manufacturing powerhouse at the same time?

I think so because these two goals are mutually reinforcing. A robust manufacturing sector with continued improvement will provide a better employment from which a stable and rising income is expected.

With productive gains, they are able to lower the price and also improve the quality that further fuel the Chinese consumer demand. So in the meanwhile, the consumer demand will help to feed in to the innovation and also to the production. So we are also able to prevent certain external shocks

and provide a reliable market for industrial output. And in the meanwhile, we get more attractive for foreign investment into China. So this will be able to establish a very positive feedback loop

so that the manufacturer and conception can go together to service the high quality growth and also to further boost the Chinese urbanization process and feed into the digitization and also help to expand the larger portion of the mid-income class.

So by the way, Professor Liu, at a time when many Chinese manufacturers and exporters are looking to shift towards domestic sales against the backdrop of rising global uncertainty or geopolitical tension or tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, for example,

What kind of support do you think they deserve from domestic society or policymakers or businesses in order to enhance their transformation in this regard?

First, I do not think it is really viable to completely retreat to the Chinese market because through the last almost half a century, Chinese businesses have been very dynamic. They are looking at the global map. However, yes, given some of the uncertainties they face overseas, they are slightly adjusting their strategy.

by answering more of the rising needs of the domestic marketplace. However, to be able to shape into multinational companies, they need really to look at the great synergy by investing on a global basis while they may have certain focus, either it could be China, either it could be Europe or Africa whatsoever, but I do not really...

hurry for such sort of tendency to retreat. While they are able to gain more of the benefit from a certain marketplace, they will be able to feed into their innovative strengths and also the spread of their global muscles and shaping a more global brand and make them a more respectable company across the world.

Another point made by the Chinese premier is that traditional trade is slowing down and new types of trade is beginning their ascent, including digital trade and trade in services. So against the backdrop of this transformation, in what ways do you think China is sustaining global trade growth?

China used to exercise its comparative advantage before on large scale and the cheaper cost, but it's no longer so. China is shifting its gear towards a more holistic approach in dealing with the total solution for the consumption market instead of simply giving a piece of commodity or a piece of gadget.

In this way, we are able to wrap goods, services, and post services, and together with FinTech, supported by the financial vehicles and also by the continued improvement in the

a chinese service area and also we are also open to engage with the rest of the world by uh you know opening the chinese market for uh sales etc so look at the shanghai import export so this way we are able to

engage further with the rest of our world. And also we are also playing more on a rule-based track. For example, when China becomes a very important member within the regional comprehensive economic partnership, also China is seeking its membership within DIPA, the Digital Economic Partnership Agreement. So this way we are able to leverage on Chinese drive and success in the digitization process

and the specific cases like the movie nerja and the chinese deep seek they are also very open source and they also support the chinese bite dance and wechat etc to really to digitize many of those transactions by also supporting the chinese

internationalization. So we are giving a more holistic support for a big conception power with a total solution. So this is the way China is doing and we are moving up along the entire value chain. And when China gets more competitive, our consumers and many modern stakeholders can really benefit from this type of interconnectedness and the complexity China is operating.

Thank you very much for joining us. Professor Liu Baocheng from the University of International Business and Economics. We'll be back. You're listening to World Today. I'm Dinghan in Beijing. A young AI entrepreneur from Mongolia is on a mission to make artificial intelligence safer and more inclusive for the developing world.

Batushin Myangganbaya, an AI strategy advisor to a former prime minister of Mongolia, shared his personal experience with our reporter Xu Yaowen at the ongoing Summer Devils Forum. Myangganbaya, who is also the founder and the CEO of Implicit AI, says that growing up in his own country with very limited educational resources have shaped his determination and a problem-solved, and a problem-focused rather, mindset.

He also highlights China's transformation from a manufacturing hub to an innovation powerhouse. Let's take a listen. Mr. Batushik, I know your story has been very inspiring for many young people, especially since you got the perfect score at MIT and also eventually founding the Implicit AI. So

How has this background, you know, growing up in Mongolia and innovating with limited resources being used when you're founding your AI company? Mongolia is a very resource-rich country. So I never felt that

you know, just because it's a developed country, there's less resources. But what I do feel is in Mongolia, there's less opportunities for children, especially when it comes to education and the professional opportunities. So growing up in middle of nowhere in Mongolia, it was quite challenging to

access to the latest education material from all around the world. But MIT made an initiative, online initiative, to offer the classes throughout the world. And I eagerly took the course and got a lot of good education opportunity out of that.

In high school, after taking the MIT electrical engineering course, I designed a garage siren, which is like an indicator to warn kids that the car is coming. And after that, they really gave me an opportunity that education is a tool to achieve your dream. To chase the world, you need to determine things. So that mentality helped me a lot to be a better entrepreneur.

Because entrepreneurship is not about just coming up with a solution, but actually understanding and learning that

What is the root of the problem and what kind of problem exists and for what reason? So growing up in Mongolia with the limited educational resources really taught me to value, have to utilize those resources better to really solve problems. You have to be super focused about it. And that's the reason why my startup, M2Z AI, is still today is I'm learning a lot from people on what kind of AI they want to use and they

They want to use the safe AI and I'm helping the people to create a benchmark dataset to enable safety for people. So could you elaborate more on your plans to help people use AI safely, particularly in fields such as education and healthcare?

Most of the AI age developments right now is kind of like a closed source solution. So there is an AI model that you deploy to your business applications and that you don't really know whether it's performing accurately or not. And for business automation processes, that's fine. But there's a few use cases that AI making mistake is catastrophic.

And one of such areas is medical industry, for example. Let's say you have a virtual doctor, asks an emergency question from that doctor. And if that doctor's AI says, "Oh, it's not an emergency."

that creates a real trouble or a health hazard. So our company is designing a dataset technology where it's possible to collect a benchmark dataset that is super well balanced. It dreams of checking all the scenarios for emergency applications like in healthcare and also in education. Like if you're a sovereign country who is trying to default

an AI agent to hundreds and thousands of students across the country, you need to make sure that your AI agent model is not giving a misinformation to the kids on your sovereign history or your country's early culture and the government's central area, things like that.

And right now, AI housing is a lot. So my company's technology helps education departments around the world to ensure that AI agents that they are deploying is not making a mistake. And it has a very rigorous benchmark to determine those mistakes before deployment. So that's the technology that I'm trying to develop right now. And most of the DARS language models

today is based on the data on the internet. The data on the internet is predominantly created by the large economies with the big population. And 114 developing countries only share a 4% of the internet.

And that is a huge problem when it comes to finding AIH, because AIH is super biased towards larger economies. So with my technology, I hope to gather a rare data set that's specifically designed for these governments like Mongolia and super niche health requirements like healthcare emergency questions.

and make AI accessible to those vertical applications needed. What role do you believe AI could play in empowering younger generation, especially in emerging markets or developing countries, to learn knowledge by using the tool of AI? So most of the problems when it comes to education that we are facing right now is a shortage of teachers. We do not have

a high number of teachers that is well-trained to reach every part of the world. And that's especially true for Mongolia, because Mongolia is a large country, very sparsely populated. And in the countryside, there's a lot of kids that does not have an access to a high quality of teachers. And it's impossible for a government to send them a good teacher in every parts of the camp. And I think China also faces similar problems and a lot of their words

that's still developing also faces the similar questions. So an AI agent can really help in terms of these rural areas to get an access to, not to a human teacher, but to an AI teacher. So we are going from having no

good math teacher to having a best math teacher available on Earth because of an AI. That is a big transformation that AI can play in terms of education. But major part that I hope the implicit AI will play is for these kids to learn mathematics, biology, physics, history on their own native language. The AI model needs to be standard.

Because if we deploy an AI agent that can't speak Mongolian, but thinks more like an American, and teach these kids math based on the American philosophy or the American thinking, we're going to destroy our own sovereign culture. And that is one danger. Kind of like a price to pay to get these people or children educated is to lose their culture. So right now, that's the reality. I hope to change that by

providing this cultural benchmark dataset and integrating that with an AI enabled them to learn with their original cultural area plots. We know this year's Summer Devils has been held here in Tianjin and reflecting China's growing role in global innovation. As someone building frontier AI technologies, what's your perspective on China's influence in shaping the future of AI and tech ecosystem in the region?

It's my first time in China after 15 years. I visited China when I was a 9-year-old kid. And at the time, China was a manufacturing-based economy, manufacturing power. As soon as I landed in Shanghai, there were some big factory pipelines that were everywhere. It was organic.

Now, after 15 years I participate this, I realized that China is not a manufacturing economy anymore. China is now becoming more innovation based economy that is producing a different types of solutions. And because of that, it's inevitable that for the world to

step further, this innovation that's coming out of from China will play a very crucial role to make the world better place. And I met with so many entrepreneurs during a summer Davos here working on wide ranging applications, starting from like renewable energies to a semiconductor technology. So China has a wide reach of the whole industry ecosystem. And on top of that, it's actually super innovative. And I used to think

China was somewhat closed ecosystem and then that's why I didn't know a lot about it. But actually coming and visiting here, I discovered that China is super open with an international cooperation. So I'm very excited to build more partnership with the Chinese companies and their innovation will play a major part in making my vision at ETHICID AI to be true, which is to make it possible for millions of children to learn on their native culture.

Batushin Menganbaya, founder and CEO of Implicit AI from Mongolia, talking with my colleague Xu Yaowen. Coming up, China's foreign minister Wang Yi says Beijing calls for genuine de-escalation in the Middle East. You're listening to World Today. I'm Ding Hen in Beijing. We'll be back after a very short break.

You are listening to World Today. I'm Ding Hen in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China supports Iran's efforts in terms of safeguarding national sovereignty and security, and on that basis, achieving a genuine ceasefire. The senior Chinese diplomat made a remark in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Saeed Abbas Arachi, calling for de-escalation of tensions as soon as possible.

And for his part, Foreign Minister Abbas Araki said the actions taken by Israel and the United States in attacking his country's nuclear facilities are a serious violation of international law, leaving Iran with no choice but to respond. Then in a separate phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Mr. Wang Yi called on all parties to restart dialogue and push the Iranian nuclear issue back onto the track of political settlement.

So joining us now on the line is Dr. Zhang Chuchu, Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University. Thank you very much for joining us. So first of all, Dr. Zhang Chuchu, what do you think is at stake for China when we talk about this Iran-Israel conflict? Why does China wish to see a genuine ceasefire?

Well, of course, China has significant strategic and economic interests at stake in the Israel-Iran conflict, which drive its advocacy for a genuine ceasefire.

And I think we should bear in mind that China is Iran's largest trading partner and also a major importer of Iranian oil. So a prolonged conflict could disrupt oil supplies and affect China's own energy security and economic development.

And additionally, instability in the Middle East could threaten China's Belt and Road Initiative projects, which rely on regional stability for infrastructure and trade rules. And moreover, China is also very worried that Middle East instability could have spillover effects and provoke global repercussions.

And last but not least, actually, it's not because China has a lot of interest there, but also China has proposed a lot of initiatives, including global security initiative. So China always wants to assume its responsibility as a global power to reduce conflicts in the region. Then in your opinion, under what kind of conditions can there be genuine ceasefire between Israel and Iran?

Well, from my own observation, I think a genuine ceasefire between Israel and Iran is indeed very challenging, and also it requires a lot of conditions.

For example, both sides must agree to halt direct military actions and confrontation, including missile strikes and cyber attacks. So right now, Israel wants assurances that Iran will not advance its nuclear program or arm regional allies.

Whereas Iran would demand Israel to cease targeting its nuclear facilities and respect its sovereignty, etc. So there are nice compromises from both sides.

Also, secondly, a neutral mediator could also facilitate talks as neither side trusts the other, which makes things even harder. And third, a genuine ceasefire would also likely require Washington to pressure Israel to halt preemptive strikes and avoid further attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.

And also, I think a broader regional security dialogue that involves different regional powers could also help address regional tensions. So, by the way, adding up to what you have elaborated, who could be potentially this neutral mediator that you mentioned?

So first of all, if we look at the global powers, then China might be an important candidate because actually China has already mediated a lot of conflicts in the past in the region. Also, China has been adopting the neutral stance so as not to choose sides. And basically, all of the regional powers have trusted China.

Right. And secondly, also regional powers such as Oman, such as Saudi Arabia, they also want to play a certain mediating role. And last but not least, we should not forget about the international organizations such as United Nations and regional organizations.

Thank you very much. Now, some people say a ceasefire is one thing, but it does not mean that Washington and the Tehran can resume their nuclear talks. What is your take on this? Well, from my perspective, a ceasefire between Israel and Iran does not automatically pave the way for resuming Washington-Tehran nuclear talks.

because above all, it's very hard to rebuild trust at the moment between Iran and United States. So the United States strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities alongside Israel's attacks

And these have likely hardened Tehran's stance. And right now, Iran may view negotiations as useless if these kind of attacks continue. So I think the foundations are very vulnerable. And meanwhile, we need to take into consideration the two sides domestic politics, because in Iran, hardliners may resist talks, seeing them as a concession to the US after recent humiliations.

Whereas in the United States, the Trump administration's demand for Iran's unconditional surrender and its skepticism of multilateral agreements also signal little appetite for diplomacy. So what do you make of the correlation between the ongoing clash in the Gaza Strip and this conflict between Iran and Israel today?

So, I mean, if a ceasefire between Tel Aviv and Tehran is possible, does that necessarily mean a ceasefire for Gaza is also likely? Why or why not?

Well, I think there are for sure some kinds of connections between these two clashes, but there are also differences. So in general, I think a ceasefire in one does not necessarily guarantee a ceasefire in the other due to a lot of reasons.

So first of all, the Gaza conflict and this round of conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated regional tensions, prompting Iran to intensify support for its allies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.

Also, Iran's devastating response in Gaza, coupled with strikes on Iranian-linked targets in its neighboring countries, also led to direct Israel-Iran confrontation. So these are the connections. But at the same time, there are also a lot of differences. For instance, a ceasefire between Iran and Israel focuses on direct hostilities,

Well, for Gaza, this fire would also require separate negotiations because first of all, Palestine has different groups, have different parties, and also a lot of regional powers are also involved in this conflict. So the negotiation can become even more complicated.

And also we have to note that both Iran and Israel are sovereign countries, whereas Hamas is a non-state actor.

So I think while an Iran-Israel ceasefire could reduce regional tensions and enable diplomatic focus on Gaza, the fundamental differences between Israel and Hamas can make a Gaza ceasefire more difficult and less likely. Thank you very much for putting this into perspective. Dr. Zhang Chuchu, Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University.

Coming up, the Chinese mainland has criticized Taiwan's Lai Qingde for distorting history. You're listening to World Today, we'll be back. You're back with World Today, I'm Ding Hen in Beijing. The Chinese mainland is slamming recent remarks made by Taiwan leader Lai Qingde on cross-strait relations as a monologue advocating Taiwan independence.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said Lai Qingde deliberately distorted history as part of his attempts to create hatred and exacerbate social divisions on the island. The spokesperson also said the future of the island lies in national reunification, adding that Taiwan is one of China's provinces with no right to be called a state.

So joining us now on the line is Dr. Liu Kuangyu from the Institute of Taiwan Studies Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. This is Kuangyu. So first of all, Dr. Liu,

What do you make of Lai Ching-te's intention by making such a comment in his recent open speech that, quote, Taiwan is of course a country and there is historical evidence and legal proof to back this up, unquote. Is he trying to change the status quo?

Yes, I think so, because we can clearly see that during his first year of term in office, since his May 20 speech of inauguration and to the so-called double 10 speech,

anniversary speech and the first year May 20th speech and recently the so-called the solidarity 10 speech. All these speeches and interviews, all the Indian situations, we can see that the Lighting Day has been intentionally trying to piece up together, piece together, trying to set up a so-called framework.

or a system, those elements for his, to supplement his so-called rhetoric of Taiwan independence or the two-state theory from those elements from historical facts that he claimed as facts, of course, and also other factors from the legal issues

I think he's trying to set up all this framework. For example, he can say that he's been using the ethnic problems, the questions of the Taiwanese people. He's been using the so-called 27th resolution of the United Nations, saying that he does not...

related to Taiwan question. And he's been talking about so-called the Kuomintang and Republic of China going to Taiwan, on Taiwan, the historical things. All these sort of rhetoric, I think he's trying to prove one thing that so-called there is two nations called China and so-called Taiwan nation. But of course, there's

It is not a fact and it's obeyed the current international law. So we know that these, we know that the historical and legal credible evidence has showed that Taiwan is a part of China and this is a settled thing. So I don't think Laxin has been very smart to go into this warfare, but clearly he's trying to change and challenge the status quo of Taiwan belongs to one China.

Most countries in the world today don't recognize Taiwan as an independent country. Only like a dozen or more than a dozen, a little bit more than a dozen countries have official diplomatic ties with Taipei. This is a basic fact. So more about your earlier points, like from those legal or historical perspectives, why is Taiwan not a country?

Yes, we can put into details, like what I said, from credible historical theories, evidences, and from the legal facts that Taiwan has been part of China since very ancient times. You can see that the Chinese migrants have been moving to Taiwan Island for thousands of years, have been living there, and they retain their Chinese heritage.

ethnicity and their identity for the majority. And of course, since we can see it in recent hundred years, through many dynasties, the Chinese central government has been set up effective governance on this island. So this

constitute our effective control and sovereignty over this Taiwan island. And from the legal perspective, we can see everything that defines the current international system, including the cross relations,

from the Cairo Declaration and Post-Temperature Proclamation and the UN Resolution 2758. They all define the one China principle and Taiwan is a part of China. Taiwan has been restored and returned to China from the Japanese government

uh occupation and so this all uh historically and legally they all settle things there is no doubt there is no so-called controversy there are only human-made controversies because we can see uh every country in the world that has a diplomatic relations with china although 183 countries they recognized one china principle and no any country in the world

They recognize their so-called country called Taiwan country or Taiwan Republic or Taiwan so on. And Lai Ching-Tier has said so-called the land and the so-called government and the people and those factors that might constitute in his theory a Taiwan country. Actually, we can say the land, the island belongs to China. This is the land of the Chinese and people there are majority the Chinese people.

And they are from the Chinese mainland or their descendants. And the government, so-called government, this is set up according to the so-called constitution, uh,

of the Taiwan, of the so-called People's Republic of China that has the definition of one China principle and China will seek reunification. So there is no so-called Taiwan Republic, Taiwan country, Taiwan, all the people they call, they believe they are from the country of Taiwan. So these are total lie or nonsense. That's what I say. It's not very smart for him to talk about those issues that he really don't master.

We still have like one minute and a half before we need to finish. So the final question, I mean, this year marks the 80th anniversary of humanity's victory in our historical fight against the fascism in World War II. What do you make of the meaning of marking this very important milestone in the context of the Taiwan question?

This is a very important mass. I think we can notice two very important things. First, Taiwan is a part of, Taiwan returning to China is a part of this humanitarian victory of fight against the fascism because we defeated the Japanese imperialism. So Taiwan has been returned to China. And so these factors should not be ever, never forgotten or distorted by any, for example, like Lai Ching-te's speech. And second, that

We can see after this victory for all these 80 years, there is generally a peace order in the international system and in cross relations. And Taiwan belongs to China. Taiwan returning to China is an essential factor, foundation, pretext of that

order then that means if anyone that trying to force Taiwan out of China China's sovereignty China's reign then that means he's trying to deny the international peace deny trying to deny the current international order so that will not be allowed by the whole international community hmm

Thank you very much for putting this into a historical perspective. That was Dr. Liu Kuangyi joining us from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Coming up, China proposed a legal boost for low-altitude economy in aviation law amendment. You're listening to World Today. We'll be back. Hello, my name is Alessandro Golombievski Teixeira. I'm a professor of public policy management at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

I am a great listener of The World Today. In my opinion, The World Today is one of the best China radio programs. In The World Today, we can get the best news and analysis in what is happening now in the world. So please come to join us. You're listening to World Today. I'm Ding Han in Beijing.

China's low-altitude economy is taking off. At the heart of this ongoing momentum is the second review draft with regard to China's civil aviation law, which includes new measures to support innovation in manufacturing and optimize the allocation of low-altitude aerospace resources.

Guangdong province, for example, has already achieved some positive results in terms of the low-altitude economy, with more than 700 routes dedicated to unmanned aerial vehicles. The province's low-altitude economy has exceeded 14 billion US dollars, attracting more than 15,000 enterprises.

For more, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Dr. Yan Liang, professor of economics with Willamette University. So Yan, thank you very much for joining us. The low altitude economy has been emphasized and encouraged by the government. So why is it becoming such a strategic focus for China?

Well, you're right that China is actively promoting the low-altitude economy as part of the national development strategy. It is actually stipulated in the 14th Five-Year Plan. So the government has also established a dedicated department to oversee the low-altitude economy. So that just shows how important it is as a strategic focus for China. And I think

the government is putting so much emphasis on it for three major reasons. One is that this is a really tremendous market economy, a market opportunity. It's going to produce over a trillion yuan market by the end of this year and would

produce more than 3.5 trillion yuan value of GDP by 2035. So the market sort of the size and the economic opportunity is vast as far as this economy is concerned. It is also, you know, has a lot of different applications and it could be used in various industries. For example,

urban air mobility, aerial tourism, agriculture production applications, emergency services and surveillance and security, and also drone delivery. So all of these could help to promote the economic growth in varieties of sectors. And second, I think the major reason is it's really the breeding ground for technological innovations. And so this is not just about advanced manufacturing, but also, for example, AI applications.

So I think that would really help to promote innovations. And last but not the least, I think this is really also the key to transform the transportation system. So as we know, China is leading in fast speed train, in the zero emission cars, EVs, hybrid cars, and now is the air traffic.

So I think, you know, all the three reasons, you know, put this low-outdoor economy really at the forefront of the development strategy in China. And how significant is the revision of the civil aviation law in shaping the future of this sector, do you think?

Well, I think this draft, it's a revision of draft to the civil aviation law. I think this is part of the effort to boost the sector's development. And the draft now stipulates that China will strengthen the construction of civil aviation infrastructure. So, for example, charging stations and also those aircraft.

for these devices. And it also supports scientific and technological research and education, boost professional trainings, and also enhance civil aviation safety and also service standards. So I think all of these are really important to support the further research and development in core technologies and also improve the design capabilities of large craft

and advanced engines to also promote the industrial applications of the innovations. And so I think all of these are really important to boost the development of this low altitude economy. - And South China's Guangdong province has achieved the positive and innovative results in the low altitude economic development. So how do you explain that?

First of all, I think Guangdong really has the foundation for being the lead hub for the low altitude economy. So major of the industry leaders like DJI and Elon, they're all based in Guangdong. In fact, Guangdong has attracted over 15,000 low actual economy related enterprises, those drones and other

And the value right now already exceeded 100 billion yuan, which is close to $14 billion. And second, I think, you know, as China trying to boost the so-called Great Bay Area and promote urban air mobility,

really helped to use Guangdong as a hub to connect all the 11 cities in the region with just one hour commute with these, you know, the so-called e-votals. So the vertical landing and takeoff vehicles. So I think based on, you know, Guangdong's already

advanced technologies, its manufacturing capacity, and also the proximity of all these urban cities, I think it makes it a really a great ideal place to develop the low-efficiency economy and play a lead role in promoting the entire economy in the broader China.

And how can the low altitude economy change the urban air mobility? And what are the commercial applications of it in various sectors such as industry, such as agriculture and services? And how to make it more cost efficient?

Well, I think that's a great question. So first of all, I think, you know, we know that, for example, in the Great Bay Area, the idea is to connect 11 cities in a seamless way. So people could live in one city, but then work in another. Or they could be, you know, in the morning in one city and then the afternoon go to another city. And that's very important for, you know, supply chain.

client chain management and also for financial operations, transactions and many other possibilities. So you need the kinds of mobility and underground traffic could be jammed with very busy streets and also with all these cities.

many people, many population. So I think that opens the door for the low altitude economy to have these, you know, vertical landing, taking off and landing vehicles to carry passengers from one city to another within really just hours of time. And right now, there has been already experiment that successfully to have this kinds of air mobility.

the cost right now is still relatively high. So I think the next step is to mass produce and to promote technology, technological development, so that you will be able to bring down the costs. So for example, if you have more efficient batteries, if you can produce these vehicles in a large quantity, all of this could help to bring the cost down. Now, when it comes to the applications, as I

mentioned earlier, we have already seen Meituan, for example, have already delivered 200,000 meals using drones. And of course, China also has millions of packages that are delivered by drones every year. So I think the drone delivery could be one really potential, very large application that we're seeing developing right now. And there are also, as I mentioned earlier, agriculture applications,

using drones to monitor crops to spray and, you know, fertilizers and other farming tasks. Also for aerial tourism, right, for sightseeing flights and other recreational activities. And also for emergency services, could research, rescue, and delivery for medical supplies and so on and so forth. So all of these, I think, are really great applications for using these low altitude vehicles.

And the low altitude economy is a burgeoning sector in the world. So what is the landscape, the global landscape of it? And how has it been developed in other countries like US and Europe?

Well, I think China is really taking the lead road right now in this industry. We're seeing other countries are developing it. For example, the United States, they're also trying to develop the drones. But at the same time, I think China is really leading in the technologies, but also in the mass production capacities, as well as the various applications.

I think in the United States, the production capacity is still lagging behind China and also the applications because the regulations and other reasons we're not seeing as a rapid and also mass adoption of the technologies in the various sectors. You are seeing some drone delivery businesses, but in terms of the urban air mobility, I think right now is still in the more sort of experimental stage.

So I think China is playing a lead role in this industry at this point. And how big will be the market potential for this low altitude economy in China?

Well, I think flying taxi is, you know, it's really happening as we just mentioned about the urban air mobility. So the flying taxi is, you know, really the vehicle to be able to do that. So the great for the Great Bay Area, for example, giving the dense population and giving, you know, a lot of the demands for fast traffic. I think it really it's a great potential to have the flying taxi and other, you know,

possibilities. For example, customers can also rent these vertical taking off and landing vehicles and to be able to bring them from one city to the other within, again, one hour or two hours of rain.

So, you know, flying taxi or rental or other, you know, self sort of flying kind of vehicles could be great potential to boost kind of urban air mobility. So it's not only, you know, saving, you know, the time, but I think it's also great when it comes to relieving some of the traffic jams, but also potentially could be very, you know, energy efficient and also very efficient

you know, when it comes to the economy, right? It's time is money. So if you're able to speed up the transportation time, I think that would be super helpful. Professor Yan Liang joining us from Willamette University. That's all the time for this edition of World Today. I'm Dinghan in Beijing. Bye for now.