How will China’s next five-year plan bring certainty amid uncertainty?
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China gears up for its next development blueprint, the 15th Five-Year Plan, as President Xi Jinping calls for high-quality policymaking. Meanwhile, April economic data shows resilience under pressure, and Beijing pushes back against the U.S. restriction on Huawei's AI chips.

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.

Let's begin our top story. Each of China's five-year plan marks a chapter in the country's journey of development and transformation. As 2025 wraps up the 14th five-year plan, preparations are already underway for the next one.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling for sound, democratic and law-based decision-making to guide the creation of China's next five-year plan, a key blueprint for national economic and social development from 2026 to 2030. The plan is currently being drafted under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the highest decision-making body of the country's ruling party.

In the weeks ahead, authorities will begin collecting input from officials, experts and the public through a variety of channels, part of efforts to ensure the plan is born inclusive and high-quality.

To delve into the topic, let's have Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics. Thanks for joining us. Thank you very much. Professor, before we dive into the next five-year plan, let's first look back

at the current one, the 14th five-year plan. In the first half of this plan period, China's GDP surpassed 120 trillion yuan and per capita GDP reached the global average. But this five-year plan has also faced unexpected challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and dramatic changes in the international landscape.

So how would you characterize the overall performance of the 14th Five-Year Plan under these circumstances? And what does it mean for China's past and future development? You're right. As a matter of fact, over the past five years in experience the 14th Five-Year Plan, China has experienced many exceptional circumstances, including the COVID pandemic,

the heightened geopolitical tensions, and the still ongoing global economic fragmentation. Despite these headwinds, this five-year plan has delivered tangible progress over multiple fronts. First, the Chinese economy has exhibited fundamental resilience since China has maintained

a very stable macroeconomic policy. Therefore, it outperformed the global average in its growth and recovery.

the industrial upgrading and digital economy has advanced very steadily together. So second, the technological self-reliance has been further enhanced due to the Chinese accumulation of technological know-how and also facing the global upfront in terms of the technological obstruction to China

And then given the very tough climate change objectives, so China has gone through a very rapid green transformation that really leave

far better room for the new technologies to emerge like the renewable energy ones, electrical vehicles, solar panels. So it has been a remarkable year against the exceptional challenges China has been facing. So we delivered the right homework.

Professor, we know in addition to aligning development goals for 2021 to 2025, the 14th Five-Year Plan also sets a long-term vision for China. It lays out a roadmap for China to basically achieve socialist modernization by 2035 through the implementation of these three successive five-year plans, the 14th, 15th and 16th.

So given that 15th five-year plan sits at this critical halfway point, how do you view its significance and what are the development priorities during this period? What has been outstanding for the 14th five-year plan as compared with the previous ones, it not only delivered over the five-year plan in terms of the solid development,

the pillar work but it also lay out the vision for 2035 which means it sets the major direction where china shall move forward in in terms of social and economic development so the significant lies in that it is there to breach china's development path towards the second centennial goal which is

By 2049, China shall achieve its modernization and move into the bracket of a developed economy, where the key priorities can be identified in terms of technological innovation, in terms of the demographic transition, especially dealing with aged and declining population.

Then, as we said, the green and low-carbon transformation has been painful but very successful. So far, we even gave up some of the growth points in the economy just to alter in our commitment to international community in terms of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. And also, it is there to deliver a holistic approach to people's quality of life.

So what is also remarkable is that China has implemented the common prosperity program by alleviating the hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. And we continue to strengthen this achievement by the more of the technological

and even monetary transfer to those underdeveloped regions so that we do really achieve a socialist type of modernization lastly i think the national security has also been further enhanced uh it which is not only in the conventional format by strengthening the arms and weapons

but also to address more of the food safety, the supply chain security, and also the digital and cybersecurity. So these are really the significant part that I can identify for this transitional period.

Professor, at a recent meeting, President Xi Jinping has stressed the importance of sound democratic and law-based decision-making to ensure the 15th Five-Year Plan is of high quality. How do you interpret this requirement and what does it tell us about China's approach to policymaking in the years ahead?

For years, actually, China implemented very flexible and pragmatic policies, which has been very successful. However, when Chinese economy growing more sophisticated, when China is getting more and more engaged with the rest of the world, we do need

a higher practicability with increasing number of modest stakeholders in the Chinese social and economic performance. So therefore, a sound decision-making process supported by the enhanced governance capacity is something that is highly required in order to move China further forward alone.

its development path, and also interaction with the rest of the world. So the democratic decision-making is there to further enhance the spirit of the Chinese holistic or the all-process democracy, which is there to gather more of the participation of all

stakeholders from workers to normal citizens to industries to local governments, etc. So that we can make not only make sound decisions, but also it is there to ensure those stakeholders will be the implementers for the successful operation of any major decisions.

So the law-based one is something that is a major shift from a policy-driven decision-making process because law is more stable, it has more predictability, and also prevents the ad hoc

reaction towards some contingencies. This is a way that China needs to go further over the next five-year plan so that all people are able to see higher level of transparency in their behavior against the law and for the law.

Professor President, she also emphasized the need to adapt to changing circumstances and focus on strategic priorities. So in your view, building on the foundation laid during the 14th five-year plan, how can China use the certainty of its own development to cope with the rising global uncertainties today? When now every country has been prioritizing on security, it means the world is getting more fragmented.

And China is no exception. However, we always say that the real security lies in your own national strengths. So when you get stronger and when you get better intertwined and interdependent with the rest of the world, you feel better secured instead of closing the door

and simply raise the expenses on building arms or build defenses. So this is a difficult path for China to move forward because there has been a number of controversies going on as we are looking at short-term security or we are looking at long-term prosperity. So I think President Xi has been very clear in that we are going forward with a long-term prosperity,

by building better relations with the rest of the world by further opening the chinese door and also we are also teaming up with global community particularly with the global south in the collective efforts for a fair and just the global governance and domestically we are also there to unify the basic ideology that uh all the chinese people and also we deal with more of the

a new level of or new quality productivity so that people do feel the benefit so that they will be able to embrace more voluntarily with the government directives in terms of productivity, in terms of the division of social wealth, and also in terms of the technological innovation. Speaking of opening our door to others,

China's five-year plan are not only about growth target. Many believe they also serve as blueprints for reform. So how will the 15th plan advance the goals of the next round of comprehensive reforms? Well, in terms of the economy, I think every country will face two issues. How to grow the economy and how to divide the cake of economic growth.

So China is their first focus still on growing the Chinese economy so that the cake gets larger and everybody, you know, theoretically could get a fair and larger share. So in this way, in terms of distribution, China continues to maintain its fiscal, monetary and also tax policies to move towards such a

and objective so that our local governments can really be able to operate on a sustainable basis and public services can be better increased in terms of equality and also in terms of quality. And then all market players, be it state-owned ones, private ones, and foreign-invested ones are really welcome to operate on a fair and equal basis so that the vigor of

economic growth and healthy competition can be further boosted to grow the Chinese economy.

And more of those, you know, the hidden campaigns within those small and medium-sized companies will be given further support so that we are able to move further into the frontier technology so that the Chinese technological competitiveness and also the people's entitlement to the new fruition of technology can be guaranteed.

Thanks, Professor Liu, for your insightful analysis. That was Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics. Coming up, Chinese authorities say the economy held firm in April, showing resilience amid pressure and maintaining steady growth. This is Road Today. Stay with us.

Washington is tightening its containment of China's tech industry, launching a global crackdown on AI chips from Chinese firms, with Huawei squarely in the crosshairs. What's fueling this escalation, and how might it reshape the global semiconductor landscape? Join us on the chat lounge this week as we break down the power play's potential blowback and China's next move in this high-stakes silicon showdown.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and on CGTN Radio. Welcome back to Road Today. Let's continue with China's economy. Chinese authorities say the economy has managed to withstand pressure and maintain steady growth in April. Retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption strength, expanded over 5%.

The value-added industrial output grew a little over 6%. Officials also note employment remained stable and new growth drivers gathered momentum. So to help us unpack the numbers and what they mean for China's broader economic outlook, we're joined on the line by Mr. Liu Zhicheng, senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. Thanks for joining us, Mr. Liu. Thank you.

First of all, in April 2025, China's industrial output of major enterprises rose by 6.1% year-on-year, with high-tech manufacturing playing a significant role. So against the backdrop of the tariff war launched by the United States, how has China's industrial sector offset external demand pressures, and which sectors have demonstrated stronger resilience?

Yes, we should say that the 61.1% increase in April, that shows that the resilience of China's industrial capacity, as we know the industrial value added output in April is really increased, under the pressure of the tariffs imposed by the American government. So in this way, we show that the two points are to be noted. Firstly, the real resilience of the Chinese industrial

value added and output is quite

The second shows that the engineers and also the entrepreneurs in China are so dynamic and with the innovation capability that are in face of the challenges from the external conditions. So we show that in the bright future of this industry output, especially in the value-added products,

shows in the high tech and the other AI and also the new vehicle. So in this way that we are very confident that in the future, still the China's industrial value added products and output will be well increased in the time to come.

The services production index also rose by 6% in April, and retail sales of consumer goods grew by 5.1% year-on-year. In contrast to the potential dampening effects of U.S. tariff policies on exports, how has stable domestic demand served

As the foundation for China's economic stability, on the policy front, what further measures can be taken to unlock consumption potential amid growing external uncertainties today?

Yeah, from the figure for 6% to 5.1% for retail and for service industry, we can see a good potential of the two sections in China. Because as we know, Chinese domestic market has a very strong resilience, very dynamic, as we know the potential is quite high.

under further exploration. So in this way, we have a really very bright future in the service industry because service industry covers a lot of sections, for instance, to AI or information communications and also

in the devices and the catering and the medical care. All these products are really belongs to the service industry. Nowadays we see also in the cultural sections, we see our movie exporters who have

a good result in the past month. So we show that all this can really promote and make more contributions for the growth of China's economy. So further policy should be emphasized in the market access. For instance, we should invite more foreign investors in this market to give more chances for foreign

players in the China service industry. And secondly, also we should open all this market margin for all these retailers, especially for those private companies that have more freedom

to play their role in the to develop the economy because only by promoting the private sections that we will have more opportunities and the chances to further strengthen our economy.

We also witnessed from January to April fixed asset investment rose by 4% with high-tech manufacturing and infrastructure investment emerging as bright spots. As the global trade environment tightens, how can this investment trend support China's strategy of prioritizing domestic circulation while maintaining synergy with external markets, especially compared to the

reactive supply chain shifts prompted by U.S. tariffs. What are the strategic advantages of China's current investment direction?

As you know, besides all the figures you have mentioned, for instance, for the fixed asset investment in the high-tech and innovation infrastructure sections, but also the other two information could be very useful to have a better understanding. For instance, in April, the net capital

inflow increased by 60 billion us dollars so this is a quite a good number and also from foreign investment the net investment in china is around 10 billion us dollars so this figure can show some from both sides for domestic fixed asset investment and also from foreign investment

really increased very strong. That shows that the greater confidence from the foreign investors in China's market. So we should say that we have our advantages in systematic, for example, in law conditions and also from business environment for foreign investors. And actually from the policy sections, all these policies,

are around it or for the focus of to service the industry and also the interest of the foreign investor this is very important to know that the foreign investors and the domestic market have the very stable expectation for the future so a stable expectation is more important than to increase to strengthen the confidence of the investors

Let's shift gears to the realm of employment. The surveyed urban unemployment rate in the first four months remained stable and on par with the same period back in 2024 last year. What has helped stabilize employment despite the pressure from tariffs?

I think there are two things that the government has really done very well. The first point is that the Chinese government has been for a long time prepared to stimulate or to improve the environment of the employment conditions. For instance, we have already issued more policies to support the employment issue, to give more financial support and job creation opportunities

and to open more economic development circles to boost the employment. So in this way that attracted many young generation, young graduates for doing business for individually or joining these companies for their own future. This is the first point. The second point is that we have more that

private companies that support these sections as we know that in the past month many private companies has enlarged their employment circle and the range increased the number of the employment so that's why all these conditions and the employment environment is really get to well improved this is a very good

the signature that China's market is really getting well with the high rate of employment.

Thanks Mr. Liu for your insights and time. That was Mr. Liu Zhiching, Senior Fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. Coming up, the Chinese foreign ministry pushes back against U.S. restrictions denouncing unjustified curbs on Huawei's AI chips development.

You are listening to Road Today. To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching Road Today. We'll be back after a short break. Welcome back to Road Today with me, Ge'enna, in Beijing.

The foreign ministry said China has urged the United States to halt its unjustified crackdown on China's technology sector and artificial intelligence development. Earlier, the U.S. Commerce Department issued a statement declaring that the use of Huawei Ascend chips violates U.S. export controls and warning the public about the potential consequences of using U.S. AI chips to train Chinese AI models.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the U.S. overstretches the concept of national security, abuses export control measures and long-arm jurisdiction, and imposes malicious restrictions on China's cheap products and AI industry based on unfunded accusations. So for more on this, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University.

So Yan, the US administration plans to lift a Biden curb on the export of artificial intelligence chips. So tell us more about the US chip policy and why is the Trump administration making the change now? Well, I think Biden's AI diffusion rule, as it's called, is to divide countries in the world into three tiers. So the first tier countries include

18 countries and Taiwan region and the these tier of countries do not have any sort of cap on how much they can import AI chips from the US. Then you have about 120 countries that are grouped into tier two, which has certain cap as certain

quantity restrictions in terms of how much they can import from the U.S., and they also have restrictions on the so-called computing powers for those tiered of countries. And then you have the third tier, which include the so-called country of concerns. So that mostly includes China, Russia, North Korea, and the like. And so these countries simply don't have access to the U.S.'s AI

So, clearly, this restriction is to try to, in a way, suppress China's technological development in the name of preserving the U.S.'s national – to protecting the U.S.'s national security. So I think Trump's intention to lift some of the restrictions are mostly concerning these second-tier countries.

The Department of Commerce basically said that by downgrading some of these countries into the so-called second tier countries, it undermines some of the diplomatic relationships. And that's why they wanted to rewrite the rules and relax the restrictions to those third tier countries. But I think the other reason, the major reason is I think it's business interest.

So we know that by restricting the cap these countries can import from the U.S., it literally means less business opportunities for these big AI-related companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and so on and so forth. So we know that companies like NVIDIA

they really wanted to invest more and wanted to sell more chips to countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, and companies like AMD, they wanted to invest in data center in Malaysia. So for these businesses, they wanted to have more assets to be able to sell to these various countries, mostly in the Middle East and also many in the Asian economies and some European economies. And so that's why I think there is the business interest

that tried to relax the restrictions to the vast majority, so around 120 countries in the world. - And the US is declaring that the use of Huawei Ascend chips violates the US actual controls. And it also warned the public about the potential consequence of using the US AI chips to train Chinese AI models. How do you view this move and what's the purpose? And could it actually backfire the US AI and chips development?

Well, I think as you mentioned earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson basically put it very clearly that these kinds of restrictions are really the U.S. abusing the concept of national security, abusing the export control measures, and it's about long-term, long-arm jurisdictions, and trying to impose restrictions and trying to suppress China's AI industry development. And it's clear that this is the way the U.S. trying to

restrict China's assets to these chips, which are important to develop AI technology. And so I think this is mostly motivated by the US's intention to, in a way, monopolize AI technology and trying to suppress China's development in that regard.

And I think this is likely to backfire. First of all, you already see a lot of US businesses, they oppose this rule, right? The Nvidia and AMD, as a matter of fact, already brought a case in terms of the restrictions of certain chips that they design and trying to export to China. They're basically saying all these restrictions undermine their own business opportunities. Because according to Jensen Wong, who is the CEO of Nvidia,

China is a big market. China consumes about one third of the global chips. China's market is a $50 billion market. And so by not allowing these companies to sell to the Chinese market, essentially what it means is that this cuts off their very important source of revenue. This was some ways undermine their own R&D development because they don't have as much revenues to support that. So all of this could backfire and undermine the commercial interest of these big businesses

in the US and in a way also undermine their capability to continue to invest and develop AI technologies. And how close do you think are China and the US on AI tech advancement currently?

Well, I think it really depends on who you ask, but I think the consensus, according to, for example, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and also AMD's CEO, when they testified in front of the Congress just last week, they basically said the U.S. is still having a small lead role.

lead in the AI space, but China is really not far behind. And if you listen to people like Li Kaifu, who is the CEO of O1 AI, he basically said the US is probably have a very, very marginal lead

about three months ahead of China's AI. But that said, I think, you know, given DeepSea's launch, we see that the U.S. as developers is able to use a fraction of the cost, right? They use about $5.4 million to train the DeepSea compared to the Chubbidi 4.0 that basically took $80 to $100 million to train and open the AI is basically running at $5 billion budget a year. I think that the Chinese

developers simply show that they're able to use a much more cost effective way to develop the technology and in many matrix in terms of the performances, DeepSeq is actually ahead of ChatGPT. And last but not least, we know that DeepSeq is an open source technology. So that means it's going to be able to lend itself to a lot more other developers who are willing to utilize and integrate

deep seek and allow the clients to build their own model based on the AI, you know, the deep seas AI, open source AI technology. So in that sense, I think, you know, China is really leading in many of the, you know, areas in AI. Not to mention, we know that China basically account for 60% of the AI patent.

So in that regard, I think even if the industry experts believe that the US still has a slight margin ahead, China is really not far behind at all. And does the US want to decouple from China, especially in the tech sector such as AI and semiconductors? And do you think the world might be divided into two AI systems which would eventually undermine the collective tech development?

Well, I think it does seem to have the intention for the United States to have the so-called strategic decoupling. This is according to the Secretary of Treasury Scott Besant. I think the U.S. at this point already find out that the massive wholesale decoupling from China is probably not feasible and it's also going to be very economically damaging. And that's why they roll back on this massive tariff.

on Chinese imports, right? They wrote it back from 145% to now 30%, because they understand with the very high tariff, you essentially decouple from China and that is not going to be feasible for the US economy.

But on the technological side, I think there is intention, right, giving their own strategy, quote unquote, strategic decoupling or earlier in Biden's administration, de-risking. I think they do seem to want to build some sort of fire war, keep China out from the U.S.'s technologies when it comes to AI semiconductor technology.

But I think, you know, the strategy is very dubious because I think, first of all, China has shown even without the U.S. advanced chips, China can still develop models like EAPSEC, which is very highly competitive. And China is also doubling down on the investments in AI. And China has a lot of advantages, right, in terms of the capital. China has the big funds.

which now pretty much garner, you know, $80 billion to support the indigrient circuit industry. China has a lot of talent, 1.4, you know, million, uh, STEM graduates every year, which is four times the U S is. And China has this very, uh,

comprehensive and very mature industrial production system that would allow for mass production and fabrication of chips and other hardwares. And last but not least, I think there's also a very large user case in China to apply AI in the various industries and very quickly monetize and help to boost the AI diffusions. So all of these benefits, I think, would allow China to compete

with the US, not to mention, I think for the rest of the world, if they are more willing to adopt China's technology, which again, China's technology has a lot of appeals, right? When it comes to cost effectiveness, when it comes to open sources,

So in that sense, I think by not cooperating with China, by seeing China as a strategic rivalry, I think the US misses out the chance or the opportunity to collectively develop AI technologies with China. As a matter of fact, I think a lot of the leading edge AI research papers mostly have Chinese co-authors. So I think it's a missed opportunity.

for U.S. and China to work together and develop AI further for the benefits of humankind. Not to mention, I think when it comes to AI governance, it really requires collective efforts on both sides. That was Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University.

Let's move to the latest on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he wants to eliminate the root causes of the war with Ukraine and ensure Russia's security. His remarks came after the first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks in three years ended in less than two hours Friday.

The two sides have agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each soon. In what would be the biggest such exchange yet? But tensions remain high. Ukraine's military said after the talk, Russia has launched its biggest drone attack on Ukraine since the full-scale conflict began in 2022.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called for more sanctions to put pressure on Russia to make peace as quickly as possible. So to talk more on this topic, let's have Dr. Cui Hongjian, professor with Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Thanks for joining us, professor. Hi.

Professor Putin says he wants to eliminate the root causes of the war with Ukraine and ensure Russia's security. How do you interpret this statement? From Russia's perspective, what are the main causes of this conflict?

I think President Putin just repeated the Russians' attitude, even as we know, before the conflict with Ukraine. I think according to understanding from Russia, firstly, there are kind of structural conflicts.

confrontations between Russia and the so-called Western countries in the format of NATO or some other. So I think to deal with this Ukrainian issue, and it's just a case,

But I think for the long term and also for a more comprehensive consideration, Russia tried to deal with maybe some difficult issue with Western countries, not only just with Ukraine. And of course, as we know, it's a time for Russia's side to, you know, reconfirm its original subjects when it started this war.

military operation against Ukraine three years ago, which means there will be some demilitarization and denazification and also neutralization of Ukraine. I think a big difference between the purpose from the Russian side and also American side.

Professor, after the peace talk, Ukraine's military reported that Russia launched its biggest drone attack since the conflict began in 2022. What do you make of this military action and the timing of this? What does it reflect about Russia's attitude toward the recent negotiations?

If the news from Ukraine side is true, I think it shows the major attitude from Russian side to deal with this negotiation or peaceful solution.

I think according to Russia understanding now it takes some advantage in a battlefield. So it could be a very, very rational choice for Russian side to transfer this advantage in military into more advantages in diplomatic gaming. So I think we can find out even now,

All of the stakeholders are talking about the possibility of a ceasefire, but I don't think that it's just for Russia to stop the conflict. I think Russia tried to impose some more pressure against the Ukraine and the Western countries and to force.

the other side to recognize the advantage of Russia and then to give some more space, give some more

I mean, an advantage to Russia on the table for negotiation. Zelensky has called for more sanctions to pressure Russia into making peace quickly, while also expressing Ukraine's willingness to engage in dialogue with Russia in any form. So how do you understand Ukraine's current stance and demands?

I think recent time the Ukraine side changed its attitude and even tactics in a negotiation, especially considering of the purpose or maybe a style of President Trump.

on the American side. So always, I think the Zelenskyy government and the Ukraine try to play a zode. Ukraine is willing to be part of the negotiation, but now the major problem is from Russia. So once something happens that way, once the American side has this impression,

I think the Ukraine could expect some more pressure from Washington against Moscow. I think it's a smart posture from the Ukrainian side. Professor, one last question. Reactions to the recent talks have been mixed.

Russia and Turkey gave positive feedback, while many European leaders expressed disappointment, accusing Russia of lacking sincerity and planning to coordinate their position with U.S. President Donald Trump. So how do you interpret these sharply different reactions? And do you think Washington will align with Europe's stance today?

Certainly, I think each side, I mean the Russian side and the Ukraine and the Europe on the other side, they do have very, very different expectations on so-called peaceful solution. I think according to the Russian understanding, once there is a negotiation, so it's good.

It's good for Russia to deal with the pressure from Washington and the negotiation just part of the tactic. The negotiation itself is not a single purpose. But I think for European side and also Ukraine, indeed, they try to have another diplomatic

I mean, gaming against Russia and to try to prove that the Russian side is not so sincere about the negotiation. And it's also, I think, a very useful tactic.

for European side and Ukraine to convince that Russia will take the major responsibility to stop any process of peaceful solution. So I think still there's a different understanding and a different narrative could be

I think it's just a tactic for every side to deal with this issue of peaceful negotiation. Thanks, Professor, for your insightful analysis. That was Dr. Cui Hongjian, Professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Coming up, we'll take a look at the landmark summit between the UK and the EU. This is Road Today. Stay tuned.

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Welcome back to Road Today. Britain and the European Union have reportedly made a breakthrough in bilateral talks as both sides search for common ground in a road marked by growing uncertainty.

In the lead-up to their landmark summit in London on Monday, the first of its kind since Brexit, British media say the two sides have agreed on a surprise 12-year deal granting EU boats access to UK waters for fishing. The summit is being seen as a pivotal moment in resetting UK and EU relations post-Brexit.

while progress has been noted, especially in joint defense projects and energy collaborations. Some analysts caution that long-standing disagreements remain, particularly over regulatory standards and labor mobility. So for more on this, my colleague Xueya Wen spoke with Mike Bastin, senior lecturer at the University of Southampton in the UK. A new fishing deal has been reached between the UK and the EU during the bilateral summit.

It allows EU fishing boats to access UK waters. We know these agreements, these fishing rights have long been a controversial issue in UK-EU negotiations. So what's your take on this new agreement and why the two sides have managed to strike a deal now?

It is very interesting. As you say, it has been a long, thorny issue, particularly with British fishing trawlers and access to, that was the key issue, EU trawlers, access to UK fishing waters. Well, the first thing is it appears to be a 12-year deal, so they appear to be very confident that this is a very, very long-term breakthrough, so that's quite encouraging. It does appear, from what we've seen so far, that the government have made quite significant concessions on EU trawlers' access

access to UK fishing waters so that there could be quite an explosive reaction to that on the UK side. Why have they done that now? I think it's part of negotiation with other issues to do with youth mobility, security and defence.

So I think the UK are probably conceding in some areas in order to gain in others. So it's all interrelated. And I think that's why there's been a bit of a concession on the UK side when it comes to EU trawlers fishing in UK waters.

You just mentioned there could also be agreements breached on allowing British travelers to use e-gates at European airports or cutting red tape on food exports and imports and establishing this youth mobility scheme with the EU. So what do you think of these developments mean for British, say, food exporters and also for broader people-to-people exchanges between the two sides?

I think they're very encouraging. I think it's a five-year period since the British people voted to leave the single European market in particular and in effect set up all sorts of trade barriers. So it's a real reset moment that the UK government are trying to instigate here. So I think it's generally very encouraging for

UK travel for UK export and import, particularly when it comes to food, agriculture. And the youth mobility scheme is perhaps most exciting of all, where it appears that what's on the table is for 18 to 30 year olds, some sort of four year stay

and movement across EU countries without visa restrictions. And this has been a real headache and is a real headache for British people. So I think generally it's encouraging for the UK economy and the integration of the UK economy with the EU economy, where let's face it, around 50% of UK trade is done with the EU. Another key highlight of this summit is the agreement to strengthen UK-EU security and defence cooperations.

What impact do you think this will have on European security and sovereignty? When it comes to European security, I think it will be a positive impact. It looks as though the UK are going to have access to something like £125 billion defence budget and that they're going to be able to buy into that. And there's going to be all sorts of reciprocity there and sharing of resources.

security information and some sort of overarching security system in place. So I think it's very, very positive. When it comes to sovereignty, I'm not sure that it's going to have any impact at all. I think this is a response largely to the situation in between Russia and Ukraine and obviously Trump and

and his rhetoric as well. So there's a real need, I think, and a real determination on the European side to strengthen budgets and budget spending on defence and bring the UK into that sort of around the table, which I think is a good thing. We talk about like all of these agreements reached at the summit from people-to-people exchanges to, you know, this youth mobility scheme, right?

So would you say this agreement signals a strategic shift in the UK's approach towards building closer ties with the EU after Brexit? I think most definitely. I think what we have now is that regardless of your political persuasion, I think most would agree we have a very moderate, very open-minded Labour government which is seeking to reach agreements, not

not necessarily obviously reset completely and almost sort of overwrite or override the Brexit referendum, but certainly build bridges more with our EU trading partners, which again are the largest trading block that we deal with. So yes, I think it is a real strategic shift. The government has quite a large majority, so this will probably continue

for quite a few years. And I think most would agree it appears to be beneficial for the UK economy. Yes, so much, much more reaching out and finding agreement and compromise with the EU, I think is on the cards for quite a few years to come.

One last question, Mike. You probably have also noticed that the recent data shows that UK's investors are now the second largest foreign holders of US government debt. Despite this ongoing US tariffs, the UK has also managed to reach a deal with Washington.

In the meantime, the trade talks between the EU and the US remains in limbo. So how do you see this growing UK-US relationship affecting the UK's ties with the EU? And also, how can maybe UK balance this trade and diplomatic relations between the both sides? Well, it could be a balancing act. I mean, there could be an issue here on the EU side. I don't think there necessarily will be. I think the EU and the US relationship will be...

held sort of separately to the EU and the UK so I think I don't think the EU will be affected too much by any UK US trade deals again that was good news recently announced by the Prime Minister that the UK and the US have come to some sort of agreement I think the US realize that the UK is perhaps a special partner in Europe historically and the UK realize that while we rely much more on EU for trade the US is still a very very important market so I think that's

behind the investment. So I think UK and US relations are very healthy. And if anything, that could be a positive knock-on effect with the EU and the US as well. So I think this is, again, quite a positive thing and not necessarily threatening any UK and EU deals and relationships. I don't see why the

all of these can't really go positively hand in hand. So I think generally good news for the UK economy, the European economy, and obviously a positive spill on effect with the world economy. That was Mike Baustang, senior lecturer at the University of Southampton in the UK. That's all the time for this edition of Road Today. I'm Ge'Anna in Beijing. Thank you so much for listening. Bye for now.

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