What's been achieved through Xi's trip to Vietnam?
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Hello and welcome to World Today, I'm Zhao Ying. Coming up, Chinese President Xi Jinping has wrapped up a state visit to Vietnam. What was achieved and what message does it send regionally and globally? The China International Consumer Products Expo is underway in Hainan. We bring you the highlights from this year's event.

The Trump administration is freezing more than $2 billion in federal funds for Harvard University. What are the real intentions behind this move?

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for deepening the China-Vietnam community with a shared future. He made the remarks during a state visit to Vietnam. In his meeting with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, Xi Jinping made a six-point proposal toward that target, which included enhancing strategic mutual trust and high-quality cooperation.

General Secretary Toh Lim said developing ties with China is a top priority, and his country looks forward to advancing cooperation in governance, technology, and environmental protection. The two leaders also witnessed the display of 45 ballot or cooperation documents covering sectors including connectivity, AI, and agriculture.

President Xi also held talks with President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Luong Khun, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chin, and National Assembly Chairman Thanh Xuan Man.

He called on the two countries to jointly oppose hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism. Joining us now is Professor Qu Qiang, fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center at Minzu University of China. We'll also later be joined by Yassiru Ranaraja, director of the Belt and Road Sri Lanka think tank. But first of all, Professor Qu, what do you make of the significance of President Xi's visit to Vietnam?

I think this visit is actually one of the most important diplomatic activity in a bilateral relation between China and Vietnam. It shows that both sides actually paid lots of attention to the bilateral cooperation. And also, we've been sending a very strong signal that both China and Vietnam aim to deepen their cooperation and hand-in-hand, shoulder-by-shoulder, marching towards the future.

I think this is for one thing because China and Vietnam actually have been forging a very long-term and also traditional friendship.

but also it means we have a new momentum in bilateral relations. And also this visit shows that we are committed together to promote the local prosperity in Chinese and also ASEAN regions, and also try to maintain the stability in geopolitics, especially against the current international turbulence. And also I think globally, it's also been sending a very strong signal that China

and its partner, Vietnam, try both to support the multilateralism and also try to counter strike with the unilateralism. It shows both of our common understanding and a strong stance. And also, I think both China and Vietnam also mentioned that we will need to build a common community of our shared fate between China and Vietnam, but also it echoes China's advocation

of building a community of shared future with all human being. So I think this has been showing the whole world a good example that we are going to make it no matter what happens to the world in this turbulent era.

Yeah, you mentioned this China-Vietnam community with a shared future. Can you help us understand this concept and how does this vision shape the long-term trajectory of bilateral ties? Well, in the traditional international relations, look, there is only one model. That is the Western model. It means

Okay, either I am the boss, you're the employee, or you're the boss, I'm the employee. It means I'm going to exploit your resources, try to make money out of you, or even worse, try to colonize you. But in Chinese understanding and concept, this is not the only answer between the nations.

All nations actually can achieve the "wing-wing" result or the mutual prosperity in the reciprocal relation with each other. That's what does it mean with the shared faith community. Look at what China and Vietnam try to achieve together. While China and Vietnam actually achieved a very close relation and economic cooperation, it's not just like China hire Vietnam or try to release its capacity to Vietnam.

To take a look with China's development, Vietnam hand in hand with China is catching up really quickly and trying to fully understand a rich, peaceful, stable neighbor would be of the best interest of China as well. Because only with a rich and a stable and a peaceful neighbor, you will also enjoy a good neighborhood. You will also have a good economic cooperation and a potential in the future.

That's the reason why China tried to transfer all kinds of the technology to Vietnam, tried to invest in Vietnam and tried to build together the infrastructures with Vietnam in the connectivity of transportation, energy, as well as for the digitalization. We understand the ambition of Vietnam. For example, they have also their national target like digital Vietnam, modernization of Vietnam,

We think that is a great idea as well. It does not conflict with China's development. I think I

it can go parallel together to benefit each other. That's the reason why we're doing so. So in the past 20 years, especially in the current past 10 years, China and Vietnam's bilateral trade are growing at a double-digit speed. And also, Vietnam has become the role model of the development in ASEAN regions, averagely growing at 8% a year. This is the fastest among all the ASEAN nations of all.

So I think China and the Vietnam together show the whole world why two nations, one big, one bigger, one smaller, one have more population, one have a fewer population, one in the, you know, rather faster development stage are developing.

what another one probably are lagging behind a little bit but still we can manage to help each other and to achieve common fast you know pro development and also prosperity so this has been has been showing that we really can have another new model in the global geopolitical development and also not mentioning because of this two neighbor are developing together very fast so take a look at the asean nation or the asean plus china region

This used to be a turbulent area in the whole world, but now for many years, this has become probably one of the most peaceful and stable areas of the whole world. This is a role model of international governance and also how different countries with different sides or different ideas

can peacefully coexist with each other, it becomes a role model for every other nation to look into. So I think because of that, I think this community of the shared fate between China and Vietnam can also become amplified to be the shared fate community of all different nations. Well, we know that this friendship between China and Vietnam is often described as camaraderie plus brotherhood.

What is this historical bond signify and how does it shape their contemporary? diplomatic and policy approaches well China and a Vietnam actually have a very very long cultural route very very You know similar to each other for example in a history in a very long history most of our nation I believe in the Confucianism and also they believe in a Taoism and also the Amahayana Buddhism meanwhile both of the country are

using traditional Chinese characters a very long time in history. And even though right now, Vietnam did not use it anymore, does not use it anymore, but still 70% of the current Vietnam language will have the same vocabulary shared with Chinese. So it made us very easy to understand with each other, no matter from the vocabulary, but also from the culture root. And also if you understand the

contemporary history of China and of Vietnam, you will understand these two nations fight forward together, hand in hand and shoulder by shoulder. We're both victims of Western colonialists. And also we try to help each other to win our revolution and independence. For example, China used to support very selflessly

with Vietnam to fight against the colonists from France and also from the United States. And we win this war together. And also, in return, Vietnam also helped China to fight against the similar challenge in the whole world. And nowadays, we've been helping each other to develop together and also to achieve the modernization

in the economy and also the infrastructures. So I think that's the reason why we've been forging this long time honored friendship or brotherhood together. So ever since Chairman Ho Chi Minh's period of time, he had been paying frequent visits to China and he had been forging and making lots of personal friendship, very deep friendship with his counterpart, Chairman Mao Zedong.

Actually, since that time from the 1950s, Chairman Ho Chi Minh actually has been saying that China and Vietnam are like comrades and brothers. And even towards today, well, probably you know that from the year of the 1986,

The current chairman of Vietnam at that time, the general secretary, Ngoat Van Lang, actually looked into China's reform and opening up and started Vietnam's version of Doi Mai. And Doi Mai actually is Vietnam's reform and opening up. It helped Vietnam to catch up really, really quickly because I think chairman or general secretary Ngoat Van Lang actually understands

uh you know mr den shopping has been designing a perfect strategy help china to catch up so if china can do that vietnam which is using a very similar institution probably will do the same thing and achieve the same result so that's the reason why actually since the 1980s china and the vietnam leaders also been visiting each other mutually very very frequently and this friendship has been extending to right now the 50 of the 70

five years anniversary of our bilateral relations. And this also marks the fourth time of President Xi Jinping's visit to Vietnam and vice versa. I think the Vietnam Communist Party, Central Committee has also been visiting China's counterparts also very frequently. So I think this shows this slogan is not just

a slogan. It means a lot of things, a lot of history, lots of the friendship and lots of achievement that we have made together. And also, it's going to be also marking our future, not only the past. Well, Mr. Yasiru Ranaraja is now joining us. He is the director of Belt and Road Sri Lanka think tank. Welcome, Mr. Ranaraja. What do you make of the significance of President Xi's visit to Vietnam?

Yes, thank you very much for having me. Yes, it's a very important time for the region. As you can see, a lot of tensions happening in the global politics, geopolitics and so on. So Vietnam-China relationship highlights a very strong pivotal area of the Belt and Road Initiative and the regional integration, which is far more important looking forward to the next decades or so.

So, Xi Jinping, the Chinese president visiting Vietnam at this critical time also gave a very straight political statement saying China is ready to cooperate with its regional partners, which is the important thing.

aspect of their foreign policy to have harmonious region in order to have integrated supply chains interconnectivity among the regional countries and most importantly people-to-people relations which China and Vietnam have been having for a long time the Asia as the earlier speaker said they share a lot of synergies between each other there's a lot of history there's a lot of similarities between the between their cultures between

between their historical links. So it's a good time for China to visit Vietnam.

And if you take the facts also, Vietnam economy has mainly benefited from the Chinese rise in the past decades or so. Now, Vietnam is a strong regional economy. In my personal opinion, it has the capacity to even double the size of its GDP in the coming five to 10 years if they strategically invest.

work with the regional countries and have a very open and a very welcoming market in the region. So I believe this visit brings a lot of value to the regional connectivity between China, Vietnam, and later on, Shijiepin is going to other regional countries. So it's a form of a good regional harmony that they have created.

Okay. And Mr. Rana Raja, President Xi also called for seizing opportunities brought by China's new quality productive forces and Vietnam's new productive forces. And then how do you look at this, the alignment of the development goals of both countries? How significant is this? This is very important because one of the main reasons for the Asian trading bloc, I would call, which is the South Asia, the ASEAN, even the Far East, West Asia, Central Asia,

These countries were unable to create a regional trading bloc

Till 2017, when China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, when they actually held the first BRI Summit in Beijing, bringing over 30 to 40 heads of states to Beijing in order to discuss or to implement a regional connectivity hub. So these high-quality products, which Vietnam and China both take in high regard, which

which is mainly to create their own regional market, to have dependency on their neighbors and to have understanding of the development of their high quality products, which can come to their economy and vice versa. So I think this is one of the areas that many Asian countries

should focus on in order to create its own regional market. If not, what will happen is what we see in the present day. Because present day situation where we have huge tariffs bestowed upon all these developing countries, it makes no sense. So in the future, I think many countries have understood the realities and they would also create that form of high quality products to be distributed or to be shared in the region.

mainly creating a regional demand and a regional consuming market for the Asian region. So that for me, these high quality products highlights that

which is both China, Vietnam, ASEAN, or Central Asia or West Asia, which they should focus on is developing this consuming market and understanding their regional demands and their domestic demands and to have bilateral or multilateral corporations with the regional countries. Well, Professor Xu, President Xi specifically mentioned the connection of standard gauge railways, highways and smart ports.

How might the enhanced connectivity benefit both countries and the region as a whole? Okay, a lot of people probably don't understand the importance of Vietnam, you know, combining with China.

in the regard of the manufacturing and supply chain? Well, let me enlighten everybody a little bit. That is, Vietnam is not only Vietnam. Vietnam is a part of the bigger game here in the regard of the supply chain for the whole world. Actually, China and Vietnam are fastest growing trading partner with each other in the past 10 years. And also, Vietnam has become the fastest growing members in ASEAN nations in the past 10 years. And

and also the ASEAN nations has become the fastest growing trade partners with China actually number one trading partner with China in the past 10 years and also ASEAN nations has become the fastest growing manufacturer of the whole world in the past 10 years I know this is being a kind of brain

but actually shows that ASEAN nations has been become, well, with, within, you know, including Vietnam has become the largest part of the supply chain growing up in the past 10 years for the whole world. Look,

ASEAN nations itself has more than 600 million population. In Vietnam, this one country alone has 100 million population and growing very fast. Their average age is probably around 25 years old. And plus China, China has 1.4 billion population. So these big regions alone, and also sometimes we will count in South Korea and also Japan. So these whole regions together will stand for more than 40% of the world GDP

And also it's about 30 percent of the war population. So now you understand how important it is.

And right now, I think China plus Vietnam has been providing one of the fastest growing supply chain or the capacity in this whole bigger region and also serving the rest of the world. So you now know that the close connectivity between China and Vietnam means the close connectivity between China and the whole ASEAN nation. It means more efficient supply for the whole world.

But because of the historic reason, you know, the ancient or not ancient and the traditional infrastructure, especially for the railways in Vietnam, is not very sufficient. For one thing is that, you know, the French, you know, colonists, they used to have their unique standard of the gauge, you know, width.

which is more narrow or cannot connect with the standard railway with China linking into the northern bigger market. And also another reason is because Vietnam is a very, very narrow and long territory. It's more like Chile. Sometimes it's very difficult to build the cross-nation highway in this kind of territory or soil conditions.

But now I don't think it's a problem anymore. For one thing is that China actually has been showing lots of the tensions to bond with Vietnam in not only capacity, but also in transport capacities. And now because Guangxi province, which is a neighboring province to Vietnam, has also been

building all those kind of infrastructures. And also Vietnam government has realized that is a great idea if they can link with Guangxi autonomous region, Guangxi province, and get access to the bigger market. Well, Lao, another neighboring country in this region, has been showing them a great example

Laos used to be a landlocked country, not very privileged in development. But because they get access to Chinese railway network, their economy literally take off in the past three years. And now I think Vietnam understand how important that is. So they proposed that, yes, we should do the same thing, linking the Long Son province, Vietnam side to Guangxi province in China side.

and also from this northern province linking to another bigger city haiphong and also from haiphong to the capital city at noi and from hanoi to hua and also danang and also from danang in the middle of the vietnam to the southern very important port the whole teaming city so i think

With all this design, we will form a very huge network of transportation with fast, high-speed train, passenger train, slash heavy duty cargo train across the whole Vietnam and also linking to the Northern bigger market. And also this network will extend to what we're trying to build

the China-Laos and the China-Thailand highway network. So this whole region will be bonded together through this design of the railway network. Larger market, faster transportation, more efficient supply chain will become the new brand name in this region and make everybody to be more well-off

off than before. Well, Mr. Rana Raja, just now Professor Chu mentioned this de-globalization trend, but actually both China and Vietnam have expressed their support for multilateralism and opposition to unilateralism. But how do you think the two countries can really work together to uphold the multilateral trading system, especially in the face of rising tariffs and economic pressure from the U.S.?

Yes, those are very good points mentioned by the earlier speaker. And I totally agree with the interconnectivity between China, especially the Guangxi province and Vietnam, especially I had the privilege to visit Guangxi a few months ago. And I saw how much of business interconnectivity happened between the happening between the, you know, Vietnam and the north part of Vietnam, Hanoi region and Guangxi.

To answer your question, I think most countries have understood the current fragile global system has taught them some lessons to not put all their dependency on outside markets, as I mentioned before. What China proposed or what regional countries have in common is to understand

The most closest market is the best market for you to have the access to. So that is what mainly China, Vietnam, the ASEAN countries, or the Central Asian, West Asian, all these countries should understand is to create that form of connectivity between the regional nations. Asia itself...

is a huge market going to the next decade. So it's very important for these regional countries to understand the opportunity that is already in their hand. And I think we have arrived at that century of Asia. That is why we see good communications between all regional countries in the Far East, as the speaker mentioned. Also, we have developing communications, government-to-government communications

between India and China in various issues. So we can see some form of dialogue between these countries as well. So this is all good news coming into Asian region. So my view on this is to somehow decentralize the supply chains, interconnect all regional nations in the Asian bloc, and to have much more antifragile

supply chains connecting all countries so that if one system fails we have another way to send trade to Vietnam we have another trade route to send goods to Central Asia to South Asia so it won't be a fragile system as we saw 10 years ago which was a very unified trade model from eastern part of the world to the western part of the world so now we have create much more

you know, dynamic, much more anti-fragile system, a part of which was the leadership given by China and the other countries in the last 10 years. Yeah, thank you, Yasiru Ranaraja, director of the Belt and Road Sri Lanka think tank, and Professor Xu Qiang, fellow of the Belt and Road Research Center at Minzu University of China. You're listening to World Today. We'll be back after a short break. ♪

You're listening to World Today. I'm Zhao Ying. China's exports of new energy vehicles jumped nearly 44% in the first quarter, showing an expanding global influence. Official data shows that China's first quarter production of NEVs surged 50.4%.

China's EV giant BYD is expanding in Europe by launching its premium Denza brand there. So what are the factors driving China's growth of new energy vehicles? What are the major markets for Chinese NEV exports? For more on this, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Dr. Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow with Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

So Dr. Zhou Mi, China's exports of new energy vehicles jumped nearly 44% in the first quarter as the production surged over 50%. So what are the main factors behind this rapid development?

Well, in my understanding, there may be two important factors. The first of all, we know that the world is changing very quickly. So a lot of countries and a lot of markets are trying to gain better opportunities and abilities to deal with climate change.

For them, the new energy vehicles is one of the very important options, not only to support the passenger travel, but also for the transportation of the cargoes. So I think that is one of the main reasons that they do really want to have more vehicles.

and EVs from different suppliers. And a second important factor is that Chinese manufacturers are trying to improve their capacities to meet the demand, not only from China, but also from other countries. So for them, they are

improving their efficiency and the abilities to meet the different demands. So some of them are building the factories in other countries, but most of them are still trying to build the vehicles in China and export to other countries. So both factors are really important for looking at the data of the export performance. And how much growth potential do you think is there for the NEVs in the domestic market?

Well, as for the percentage of the share, I think that NEV is trying to catch up with traditional fossil fuels cars. But I believe that is still a lot of space because we can understand that when we are using the NEVs, the people are easier and cheaper to travel around. So for many of the

like in the African countries, they can move to other villages and other cities easily. So I would say that is a huge demand for supporting the development of this market of EVs. Well, another one is that people's attitudes towards climate change is important and is deciding which

which vehicles they want to use for the daily transformation. And I understand that there are so many governments are trying to make the plans for developing the NEVs and meet the demand of the green transportation. That is also an important support for the demand of the NEVs. So I would say that the export of NEVs are still in the going up trend. So they may be several years before we can see some of the balance

about the demand and the supply. And where are the top export destinations for Chinese NEVs? And what do you think is the outlook of NEV exports in the following years?

Well, as for the purchasing power or abilities, I would say the developed economies will have much stronger abilities to buy the new vehicles because it's not that cheap compared with what we are using as a daily life. So to place an order to buy our vehicle, you still need some time to prepare for the money.

Another possible direction maybe is the emergence of some of the economies, especially when the economies are developing very quickly and they have to balance the demand and the supply in different ways. So for the people living in some major cities in the developing economies, like from the BRICS countries, they can do more to buy the vehicles.

Well, another factor which is important to change the pattern of the supply and demand is that many of the Chinese manufacturing are trying to invest in other countries and the localization of these capacities will also help for people to know more

about the EVs and they are able to improve the infrastructure like the charging pools in the different countries, which is very important for people to make the decision to buy the EVs. And Dr. Zhou, so BYD is pushing a new model into Europe. So how competitive is the Chinese EV maker in Europe?

Well, it is so competitive. If you are looking at the attitudes of the European Union, they may have some of the worries about China's manufacturing competitiveness. So I would say that for the suppliers in the traditional vehicles, many of the people are just thinking about the efficiency and the cost can too. Well, for the new

or a brand new change for the whole process of the supply chains and management of the different resources. So many of the Chinese companies are really good at that. And one very important factor is the battery sector. Chinese enterprises are dominating these sectors with very large batteries.

abilities to supply those batteries to the manufacturing. So I think that the competitiveness of Chinese vehicles, manufacturing are really important in European markets because they are going to give the consumers so many diversified choices and that is very attractive to the consumers there.

And media reports say Chinese and the EU technical teams have already begun engaging in negotiations on the EV pricing commitments. So how can China and the EU cooperate on this front?

Well, it's good news because for both sides of the suppliers and the consumers, they may see the hope for a new balance that we can reach by the intergovernmental decisions. As we always said that the practices of the Chinese EVs are based on the market rules.

So we are not trying to block the competition by setting some of our very dangerous rules. Well, for the prices, maybe we understand that European producers are not still so competitive like Chinese producers. So we may give them some grace period for them to have a better development.

Well, in this period, I would say the cooperation between the both sides will be strengthened and that will also help for both sides to improve their understanding of the market and the abilities to meet the demands of the consumers. And looking back at China's policy support for the EV industry, so what have

the government and EV companies stand right in developing such an important industry? In my understanding, there may be several factors. First of all, the Chinese government are really open to the development of these industries. So they are giving a lot of information to the companies that this is a strategic and important direction that we can try to pursue. So the second factor is that we open our market.

and before so-called the trade conflicts between China and United States, we have some limitation on the foreign stakeholders in the automobile investment in China. But after that, we have

all the restrictions and limitation on the foreign investment in China. So Tesla came here with a 100% share. And Chinese companies are trying to compete with them. That is very important for encourage the willingness for development. And the third one, I would say the Chinese market is growing very quickly. So many of the Chinese consumers are willingly to trying to

to buy the NEVs to give their very important basis for the first part of this market, consumption market. And that is definitely important for support the development of NEVs in China. And as you mentioned, the US has announced the tariff hikes on automobiles. So what are the implications for global auto industry? What should be done to develop a healthy NEV industry?

I don't think that they have made very wise choices or decisions because if you are looking back in the history, when the country wants to block the entry of the foreign competitors, it will definitely give a very strong

very adverse effect on the domestic competition because the companies are not having enough courage or willingness to do more innovation and they will just stay there and have a very high prices. So for the internationalization, I don't think that any countries can stop the cooperation among the markets in different countries. We have to respect the market. We have to give them more choices and

certainty. And that is very important lesson we have learned in the past century. And according to my understanding that a corporation should based on the trust, so no one should adjust the break their commitments in the multilateral communities, we have to respect the rules, and we have to give him more free space for the automobiles industries to let them have a better allocation of the resources and have better corporations.

That was Dr. Zhou Mi, senior research fellow with Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, speaking with Zhao Yang.

Switzerland and China are making over a decade of growing economic ties following the signing of a landmark bilateral free trade agreement in 2014. At the ongoing China International Consumer Products Expo in Hainan, Swiss Embassy Councilor Joel Sarina said brands from his country are using the platform to connect with Chinese consumers.

Speaking with our reporter Song Ruixin, he also highlighted growing China-Switzerland collaboration in medical tech and life sciences. Let's take a listen.

Joel, Switzerland and China have shared a free trade agreement since 2014. How has this agreement shaped bilateral trade over the past decade and how is it being leveraged through platforms like the Hainan Consumer Products Expo? Well, thank you for this question. I think I first would like to say that Switzerland is very proud to be the first continental European country to

to have had a free trade agreement in place with China. That was about 10 years ago, which means that last year we celebrated our 10th year anniversary

and we are hoping to celebrate many more anniversary of this free trade agreement. I think the free trade agreements are very important. This one has helped to tremendously boost the bilateral trade between Switzerland and China. I know that China entered the WTO in 2001, as far as I remember. The free trade agreement was signed 13 years later.

And since the

free trade agreement was signed, trade between China and Switzerland has increased by 70%, which is a very interesting number for Swiss but also for Chinese companies. The way we leverage it is we see that this free trade agreement has a very interesting and a very good utilization rate. From the Swiss part, we've seen that in the last five years it has grown

5% to reach, as far as I remember, 71% utilization rates. And this is one of the free trade agreements we have in which the utilization rate is the highest. What can I say then? Hainan Free Trade Quartz and Hainan Expo are the places where we can basically leverage

leverage this kind of retail agreement. This Highland Expo is a consumer expo that really enables Swiss companies and Swiss brands to come to the attention of Chinese consumers. And this is where the Chinese consumer can experience the high quality, sustainability and innovation that we find in Swiss brands.

Like Keith mentioned, as global supply chains shift, has Switzerland identified new opportunities to expand its high-quality exports to China, especially in precision manufacturing and medical technology?

Well, we see that as global supply chain evolve, Switzerland sees a new demand for quality, traceability and innovation. And this is basically the core strengths of Swiss companies and Swiss goods. And of course, sector like precision manufacturing, medical technology and nutritional science also, and sustainable consumer goods are growing very fast in China. Here at the booth, we have 11

Sysbrands who are representing companies from the various sectors of the economy. We have companies who are in the healthy living

industry, we have food and beverage, we have home appliances, we have really life science also products which are coming here and cosmetics. So this is the base where we actually bring those products. So let's shift our gear to collaborations beyond product trade. What can you tell us about collaboration between Swiss and Chinese institutions in nutrition science, wellness, innovation and public health?

I mean, how is the cooperation being highlighted or advanced at the Expo? Well, first I would like to say that we have many types of collaboration. They are in science and technology, but they're also in the cultural world as they are in the trade industry. Of course. And those relationships and this collaboration

It started a long time ago because this year we also know that Switzerland is actually celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of our bilateral relations between China and Switzerland. So this is where actually the collaboration started. We had then in the 1980s, the first Sino-Foreign joint venture was also created by a Swiss company, Schindler. And this was the start of really the

the collaboration that came in the 80s and the 90s and 2000 and where we are now. With regard to culture, the embassy is very active in promoting the Swiss culture to the Chinese audiences. We're active by supporting Swiss organizations, by supporting Swiss artists doing exchanges, by supporting Chinese artists also going to Switzerland.

We have the chance this year to be chosen as the country of honor also for the Beijing Film Festival, which is a big highlight of the movie industry in China with regards to the life science industry.

Most of the interaction and collaboration are done by private actors, meaning Swiss companies are directly looking for their partners in China and establishing those collaborations. At the embassy and with the different organizations we represent, like Schutze Global Enterprise or Swissnext, we organize different platforms, for example, a future hospital platform where we try to bring all

the actors of the life science ecosystem together so that they are able to witness the innovation and the research which is done in both parties, either in Switzerland or in China. And in those kind of platforms, we basically bring researchers, we bring startups, we bring also CEO of companies, either Chinese companies or Swiss companies established in each other country to

to exchange about the challenges, but also about the opportunity that exists within their specific field. And again, in this regard, Boa Le Chão is a very interesting experiment and we hope that it can continue to develop because it provides a fast track for Swiss companies to develop their brand in the Chinese markets. Since 2010, China has been Switzerland's largest trading partner in Asia,

and is third largest globally after the EU and the United States. And what strategic role do the China Free Trade Port and the consumer export play in Switzerland's broader trade and engagement strategy across China and the wider Asia Pacific region? Well, I would say that the CICPE is basically a platform that allows Swiss companies to engage directly with Chinese consumers, but it is also a platform that

that enables those Swiss firms to have the possibility to see what is the competition doing and coming to places like Hainan where you foster exchanges between companies and between people from different countries. It enables also those companies to see what is happening on the Chinese market.

the Chinese companies are now extremely innovative. There are also four Swiss brands very often becoming direct competitors. So seeing what is happening in China enables Swiss companies to continue their

research and development and to make sure that we continue striving together to bring more added value and more adapted product to the consumers of China, but also to the consumers of Switzerland and global consumers.

How direct do you mean? Were there any barriers? Well, there are. There are. Where there are opportunities, there are challenges also. And you know that Switzerland basically is a firm believer in an open and rule-based trade order. This is why we have a free trade agreement in base with China.

Switzerland basically doesn't really believe in import taxes. We don't have any taxes. And we welcome an initiative like the Hainan Free Trade Court that will enable Swiss companies to take advantages of this lowering of the barriers to access to the Hainan market. What would be interesting to know then is in the future, how companies that have actually been active

In Hainan, using this framework can actually continue to develop their activities from Hainan towards the mainland. Will there be taxes or won't there be taxes? I've noticed that it's used to words that are open and rules-based. So how does it navigate the growing challenges posed by global protectionism and geopolitical tensions, especially in light of renewed U.S. tariff pressures?

And how does this impact its commercial relationship with China? Well, I think the situation is difficult for many Swiss firms. Swiss firms and all firms, Chinese firms also need stability and visibility. So it is important for our governments, as we see it, to engage in dialogue to make sure that we can clarify the framework condition in which our companies can be. The more stable, the more visibility they have,

the easier it is for them to continue investing in any country and continuing developing their economy for the benefits of consumers globally. That is Swiss Embassy Councilor Joel Saurina speaking with our reporter Song Ruixin. The Trump administration is freezing more than $2 billion in federal funds for Harvard University after the Ivy League institution rejected a list of demands from the White House.

In a letter to Harvard last week, the federal government called for sweeping reforms in governance and leadership at the university. The White House said they were designed to fight anti-Semitism on campus. Harvard rejected it and said those demands would have undermined its academic freedom. For more, we are joined by Joseph Siracusa, professor of global futures at Kern University in Australia. Thanks for joining us, professor. Happy to be here.

So can you explain the specific demands made by the Trump administration to Harvard and why the university found them unacceptable? Well, the Trump administration has...

gone after the most elite university in America's higher education system, Harvard University, which is 140 years older, by the way, than the United States of America. It's been around a long time. And Trump has gone after them the way he's gone after the Department of Justice and various individuals in the judiciary system.

and people in the executive branch. He's just as part of the Trump rampage to put these people under control. So, and he's been doing a pretty good job with Harvard and Cornell and other places. But in the last couple of days, Harvard decided to stand up to Trump's rampage and to call a halt. They said they're not going to cooperate with them. Now, the president's administration wants a large say in how Harvard conducts its business.

who it hires, who it fires, who it allows to stay on,

what they say in class, what the students are allowed to say. And, you know, they're just going after them full bore. And Harvard has finally got enough courage to stand up to them. Now, this is a very serious attack on higher education because the Trump administration is trying to shut down what they call anti-Semitism on campus. What they're trying to do is shut down American critics of American foreign policy, whether it's Ukraine or Iran.

Gaza or some other place doesn't make any difference. And so the conservatives in Washington decided they have enough strength and that is they have the leverage of pulling back or withholding billions of dollars of research dollars. Most of these research grants on these campuses are

to do important research, particularly in the sciences and medicine, come from the federal government. And so a lot of these projects will be stopped. And Trump believes, I think erroneously, that by holding this money back, these universities will fall in line. I doubt the top universities will do that because I think he's picked a fight with the wrong people at the wrong time.

Okay. Well, as you said, the Trump administration has cited anti-Semitism as the central reason for its intervention. But do you believe this justification is valid in Harvard's case, or is this just a pretext for some broader ideological goals? Oh, I don't believe any of this is valid. I mean, this is anti-Semitism.

An egregious attempt to bring these universities to heel. The president and his team do not want to hear about the criticism that comes from these campuses. And keep in mind, anti-Semitism simply means anti-Israeli policy.

It's not the same thing, but that's what he's trying to tell these people and the students who complain about things. I was an anti-war protestor in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, and President Johnson and then later Richard Nixon tried to go after the students and the universities, but the students and universities were just too strong at the end of the day. So I think, anyway, I think the attempt to go after these universities is invalid. It's simply a

a mask for what Trump is trying to do. He's just simply trying to bully the universities into coming into line and bring them to heel. It is unjustified in my estimation. In fact, it's pretty close to outrageous. This is what the fascists and the Nazis did in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. I mean, this cannot be justified by any stretch of the imagination.

Well, you know, some of the demands like ending the diversity, equity and inclusion programs that kind of align with the broader conservative critiques of higher education in the U.S. How do you see this fitting into the administration's larger agenda?

Yeah, the universities from the 1960s onwards tried to introduce this kind of diversity, that is, to make up for historical wrongs to blacks and women and other people who were excluded from higher education. Keep in mind, your audience should keep in mind that in America in the 1930s and 40s, Jews were not in top universities.

Nor Irish or Italians or blacks or even a lot of women in many places So a lot of these diversity movement movement on campus was was designed to sort of right some wrongs now You can take it or leave it You know the Supreme Court says for example affirmative action is not constitutional because it itself is racist you can say that but

The administration doesn't like the idea of universities becoming bellwethers, that is, becoming leaders in how society is organized. And the Trump administration regards its last election as a mandate to turn these universities around. Well, they don't have a mandate to do that. A lot of Americans are sort of fed up with that.

this diversity and exclusion thing that is making a black, the head of department of defense, just because he's black. Well, I, I can assume of course the head of department, last head of department of defense was also a very competent thing and head of the, uh,

The Naval Reserve was a woman. They got rid of her because they said she was this kind of appointment. It's just a way of controlling how things are organized. I mean, it also suggests how the overreach of the conservative movement in America, what they're trying to accomplish. And they reckon that if they want this fight with Harvard, by the way, they reckon that if they can bring Harvard to heel, if they can defeat Harvard in the courthouses, then all the rest of the universities

will fall into line. Yeah. So you believe other universities may follow suit because we already hear from Obama, who has praised this Harvard's resistance. Well, yeah. I mean, the Democrats would all be on board here with the universities. I mean, the Democrats wouldn't have had the courage to go after the universities. Going after higher education,

even if there are some strange people in these places, is always a bad idea because at the end of the day, you can't win. I mean, universities turn out a nation's best scientists and thinkers and writers and nurses and doctors and engineers and all the rest of it. And, you know, if you start to go after them based on these kinds of things,

these kinds of causes, I mean, you're going to lose at the end of the day and you're going to lose a lot of ground. So I think the Trump people will pay a very heavy price. Okay. Thank you, Joseph Siracusa, Professor of Global Futures at Curtin University in Australia. 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.

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