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00:00Hello, Telesuite English presents a new episode of China Now, our media's production that showcases the core technology and politics of the Aishinaian.
00:18In this first segment, China Currents divides into the top stories of the week, such as China hitting back at Trump's tires, China launching a military drill around Taiwan Island, and Chinese rescue teams save and then helping the affected people of Myanmar after the earthquake. Let's take a look.
00:48Welcome to China Currents, your weekly news report on the latest developments in China.
01:06I'm Mimi, and in this episode, China hits back at Trump's tariffs.
01:11China launches military drill around Taiwan Island.
01:15Chinese rescue teams achieved a miracle in Myanmar.
01:19First, China's turn in Trump's tariff war.
01:23On April 2nd, Trump announced a 34% tariff hike on Chinese goods.
01:29China's Ministry of Commerce swiftly introduced three countermeasures on April 4th, delivering not only an economic blow to Trump,
01:38but also significantly undermining the US defense industry's capacity to provoke a third world war.
01:46First, China declared that starting April 10th, it would impose a 34% tariff on all US imports, with agricultural products like soybeans and corn bearing the brunt, applying targeted pressure on Trump's voter base.
02:03The New York Times admitted that it will hit hard.
02:07According to the US Department of Agriculture, in 2024, China consumed 14% of all US agricultural exports and took in more than $27 billion worth of those exports and related products.
02:23On the other hand, Carlos Meira, head of agricultural market research at Rabo Bank, told Reuters,
02:31Brazil will be by far the main beneficiary, the biggest supplier that can replace US soybeans to China.
02:38But others could benefit too, including Argentina and Paraguay.
02:43On wheat, Australia and Argentina should benefit.
02:47Second, China announced export controls on seven rare earth minerals and their compounds, directly exposing weaknesses in US defense and technology supply chains.
02:59Taking samarium as an example, its primary commercial use is in manufacturing samarium cobalt magnets,
03:07which are critical materials for high-performance motors and precision gyroscopes essential to satellite and missile production.
03:16Reuters highlighted that China accounts for roughly 90% of global rare earth supplies, causing concerns among US aerospace manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, producer of the F-35 fighter jets.
03:31While the US government has stockpiles of some rare earth, but not enough to supply its defense contractors in perpetuity.
03:39More crucially, a 2014 University of Michigan study identified samarium hexaboride as a vital material for quantum computing.
03:50In June 2024, the University of California announced new breakthroughs in research on this compound.
03:57However, the ripple effects of Trump's tariffs have caused uncertainty over the commercializing of such technologies in the US.
04:06And third, China's Ministry of Commerce added 11 US entities to its unreliable entities list, banning trade and investment activities with Chinese firms.
04:19Drone XL analysis revealed these 11 companies are the backbone of America's $9.2 billion drone industry.
04:29Take Skydio as an example.
04:32The company ignored Beijing's warnings to engage in military technology collaboration with Taiwan.
04:38Additionally, as disclosed by Jewish Voice of Peace, the Israeli military ordered dozens of Skydio reconnaissance drones in 2023, later deployed in Gaza for military operations.
04:53In 2024, Yale University police used Skydio's military-grade drones to surveil student protesters.
05:03Jewish currents reported these drones to assemble dossiers on suspected students to later punish them.
05:11Now, Beijing finally decided to stand up to these American drone companies.
05:16Drone XL noted that US drone production lacks the scale to quickly replace Chinese supply chains.
05:24Scaling domestic capacity for components and rare earths could cost billions and take years, straining budgets.
05:33Beyond China, the EU and Canada have also rolled out countermeasures.
05:38Yet, on April 6th, the United Nations reiterated that nobody wins in a trade war, aligning with China's long-standing stance.
05:48Yale University's budget lab research indicates the new tariffs will raise US prices by 2.3% in the short term, equivalent to an average household loss of $3,800.
06:02Not only American citizens, but also US businesses stand to lose.
06:08Rhodey's reported iPhone prices could surge 30-40%, eroding the competitiveness of this iconic product and creating opportunities for rivals like Samsung.
06:20Rosenblatt Security's Croquette noted,
06:23Our quick math on Trump's tariff Liberation Day suggests this could blow up Apple, potentially costing the company up to $40 billion.
06:35It's hard for us to imagine Trump blowing up an American icon.
06:40Trump's tariffs are drawing global investor criticism.
06:44On social media platform X, Trump reposted a post claiming,
06:49Warren Buffett praised Trump for the best economic move in 50 years.
06:54However, CNBC reported,
06:57Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway promptly issued a denial,
07:01with Buffett himself stressing he would refrain from commenting on economic policies until May 3rd.
07:08In contrast, on April 6th, China's Ministry of Commerce hosted a roundtable with 20 US enterprises, including Tesla.
07:18Earlier, following Tim Cook's participation in the 2025 China Development Forum,
07:24Apple announced a $99 million expansion in China focused on clean energy.
07:31Apple CEO Jeff Williams stated,
07:34We're honored to deepen collaboration with suppliers across China to drive innovation and progress for our shared planet.
07:42Clearly, US companies and investors prefer aligning with the builder of the global economy over a disruptor like Trump.
07:51Chinese strategist Professor Wang Xiangshui observed that Trump, an unsuccessful businessman,
07:58has proven destructive rather than constructive in managing the world's largest economy.
08:05One key challenge he poses is America's increasingly closed market,
08:10which China cannot prevent the US from committing suicide.
08:15However, China's development of its domestic market and sustaining trade with other partnerships
08:21will provide stability in an uncertain world.
08:25Meanwhile, regarding the Trump administration's relentless self-defeating policies,
08:31the Chinese embassy in the US seemed to deliver its final response as early as March.
08:37If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war,
08:44we are ready to fight till the end.
08:47Moving on, from April 1st to 2nd, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, PLA,
08:54conducted the Straight Thunder 2025A exercises around Taiwan Island.
09:00The US State Department criticized the drills, stating they would
09:04exacerbate tensions and undermine cross-strait peace and stability.
09:09However, Chinese media outlet Guan Cha argued that the exercises are conducive to regional stability.
09:18In 2022, following Nancy Pelosi's irresponsible behavior, the PLA conducted rapid landing drills as a warning.
09:27But, by 2024, the Joint SWORD series began shifting focus, placing more emphasis on the Navy's blockade capabilities
09:37alongside amphibious landing operations.
09:40In the latest Straight Thunder 2025A exercise, landing operations were further downplayed,
09:47while training increasingly focused on the sustained control of air and sea domains
09:53and on coordination between the Navy and Marine police to implement a regular maritime blockade.
10:00This evolving approach reflects a strategic shift.
10:04As reunification by force becomes a less daunting prospect for Beijing,
10:09a prolonged blockade is seen as a more cost-effective means of helping Taiwan separatists to recognize reality.
10:18One example lies in energy security, a key vulnerability for Taiwan.
10:24Taiwan separatists often claim the island maintains four to five months of strategic oil reserves
10:30and can hold out until US forces arrive.
10:33However, as Guan Cha points out,
10:36Taiwan's energy self-sufficiency is extremely low, with over 97% of its coal, oil and natural gas imported by sea.
10:47During the Joint SWORD 2024-B exercise in May 2024, foreign LNG carriers avoided the PLA's drill zones,
10:56resulting in three consecutive days without LNG deliveries and reducing the island's natural gas reserves to just one week.
11:05Similarly, during the recent exercises, the Taita-2 LNG ship was unable to enter port due to live-fire drills.
11:14On April 3, Taiwan's United news outlet acknowledged that the mainland had exploited Taiwan's energy vulnerability.
11:23Moreover, on April 2, while the PLA conducted its drills, commercial satellite imagery showed the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group transitioning into the South China Sea.
11:35However, instead of approaching Taiwan Island, it deliberately kept its distance and headed straight for the Middle East, offering no tangible support to Taipei.
11:46These developments suggest that, through a series of increasingly sophisticated exercises, Beijing has effectively exposed the weaknesses in Taiwan's separatist narratives,
11:58and bring the regional situation back on track.
12:02Next up, on April 2, more than 120 hours after a powerful earthquake struck Myanmar, Chinese rescuers pulled a 52-year-old man alive from the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Mandalay.
12:17According to China Daily, this rescue defied staggering odds, occurring well beyond the critical 72-hour survival window and under scorching temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
12:30This man, now recovering in stable condition at a local hospital, was trapped beneath the hotel's three collapsed lower floors.
12:39Team leader Yue Xing of China's search and rescue team revealed that advanced life detection equipment pinpointed his location.
12:48Rescuers drilled downward from the ground level, using an endoscope to locate him.
12:54Remarkably, the survivor had sheltered between two beds, shielding himself from debris.
13:01He had a pot of water and ventilation, key to his survival, Yue noted.
13:07After establishing contact via translator, rescuers administered saline and spent hours carefully extracting him.
13:16The operation involved China's international search and rescue team, Hong Kong rescuers and Shenzhen Rescue volunteers.
13:24Blue Sky Rescue and others have worked over 100 hours since arriving on March 30th.
13:31So far, the Chinese rescue teams have saved nine lives.
13:36That's all for today. Thank you for watching this episode of China Currents.
13:40If you have any thoughts or comments, please leave it below.
13:43See you next time.
13:46We have a short break but don't go away because we'll be right back.
14:15Welcome back to China Now.
14:20Today, Thinkers Forum's welcome CEO gave call researchers Luis Vizengave, Professor Xu Lan, and Professor Shana Weiwei.
14:29Let's see.
14:30Trump this time around is very different from Trump the first time around.
14:46You know, Trump the first time around was always tweeting about the stock market and talking about the stock market all the time.
14:51Trump this time around has a much bigger challenge on his hand because few people realize this, few people even remember, but you know, five years ago when COVID hit, and it was pretty much exactly five years ago.
15:05Five years ago when COVID hit, US corporates went out and borrowed a lot of money because all of a sudden interest rates were at zero.
15:12So they all issued record amounts of debt.
15:13So they all issued record amounts of debt.
15:15They all issued tons and tons of corporate debt.
15:17Now, most corporate debt in the United States is five years.
15:22So they all have to essentially roll over the debt over the next second half of this year, first half of next year.
15:31And this is the big problem for Trump is that as all these corporates roll over debt at much higher interest rates, they're going to stop capital spending.
15:39They're going to, you know, fire people.
15:41They're going to have to to reduce their expenses.
15:43And it might be enough to push the US into a recession at precisely the wrong time because they'll be just before the midterm elections.
15:50And the last thing he wants is the Democrats to win, because then if they win, they're going to say, oh, impeachment, this and et cetera.
15:57And then he's got like two years where he's just fighting the Democrats.
16:01So I think if you're Trump, your main goal today is I need to get the interest rate down because otherwise the corporates can't roll over their debts.
16:11So he's doing everything he can to cut interest rates, which means reduce government spending, arm twist foreign governments into buying long dated bonds and talk down the growth.
16:23So, you know, the policy right now in the United States is pointing towards lower bond yields.
16:31If you get lower bond yields, you also get a lower US dollar.
16:33Now, against that, the third policy, the third leg of the stool for Trump is he wants to get lower energy prices.
16:41And I think that's why he's, you know, he was very keen to throw Ukraine under the bus because essentially he wants Russia to start, you know, basically producing more oil again.
16:55You know, pre-Ukraine war, Russia was producing roughly ten and a half million barrels per day.
17:01Now it's producing nine million barrels per day.
17:03Russia needs to have Halibur and Schlumberger and other Western oil service companies to upgrade their equipment to go back to producing a lot.
17:12So the Trump policy is very simple.
17:16They want lower interest rates, lower dollar, lower oil.
17:19Doesn't mean they'll get it, but that's what they're trying to do.
17:21Now, if so, it's no longer about trying to drive the stock market up.
17:27These are the three goals.
17:28So that the tariffs seem contradictory with that goal.
17:35So here, the big question is, are the tariff a goal in themselves or are they a tool to get something else?
17:45And I still think the tariffs for Trump are a tool to get something else.
17:48And what he wants, he wants to sit down with Xi Jinping in June and tell Xi Jinping, look, either I'm going to put a bunch of tariffs or you've got to buy a lot of my bonds.
18:00I'm going to issue some 50 year zero coupon bonds and you're going to buy those.
18:03He's going to say the same thing to the Europeans.
18:05He's going to say the same thing to the Japanese and to the Koreans.
18:09It's OK, you guys have big trade surplus with me.
18:14So either I'm going to put tariffs to reduce the trade surplus or you take the trade surplus and you put it into 50 year zero coupon bonds.
18:23Because when you listen to the rhetoric of Trump, it always comes back to the same thing.
18:28He's always promising.
18:29It's OK.
18:30The foreigners will pay.
18:31The Mexicans will pay for the wall.
18:33Like the budget deficits will sell citizenship for five million US dollars a pop.
18:38The tariffs will pay for themselves, et cetera, et cetera.
18:40It's always foreigners will pay.
18:42I think if you're China, your big fear when Trump was elected.
18:48So two months ago, three months ago, the big fear had to be not that Trump would put a bunch of tariffs on your goods because you don't really care about that anymore.
18:58To be to be perfectly blunt, you know, if you go back a decade, Chinese exports to the United States were eight percent of Chinese GDP.
19:06Now it's two point seven percent of Chinese GDP.
19:08So it doesn't matter that much anymore.
19:11Look at what China exports to the United States.
19:13To be perfectly honest, you look at what China exports.
19:16You know, roughly I'm sort of rounding the numbers, but, you know, roughly 20 percent is Apple.
19:23So if the U.S. wants to put a bunch of tariffs on Apple, so be it.
19:28Like, you know, like, who cares?
19:30Another 20 percent is high in electronics.
19:33And that can't go anywhere because it's complicated supply chains that can't move to Vietnam, India or wherever else.
19:40Then you've got 20 percent of, you know, sort of high end machine tools or low end machine tools like, you know, the Black and Decker or like Johnson Motors, all that stuff.
19:52Now, that part conceptually, that could go somewhere else.
19:56And then you've got another 40 percent, which is all the, frankly, low value added stuff, the shoes, the T-shirts, the Tupperware, the furniture, all that stuff that is leaving China gradually anyway.
20:10It's going to places like Vietnam, like Indonesia.
20:13And I think that, you know, the Chinese leadership, they don't really care if they lose that part.
20:17They know anyway, they're going to lose it.
20:19They're going to lose it over time.
20:20Like, you know, shoes, plastic toys.
20:23It's like, yeah, it's going to it's it's bound to leave anyway.
20:27So.
20:28And again, it's like at this point, it's 2.7 percent of Chinese GDP.
20:34I think that's why the market doesn't really care.
20:36I think the big fear, if you were China, was that Trump would try to build an anti-China coalition, that he would go to Europe, that he would go to Saudi Arabia, that he would go to Indonesia, to Australia, to Canada, to Mexico and say, hey, you can't do business with China anymore.
20:54You can't have them build factories here.
20:56You can't have them, you know, trade goods with you.
21:00I'm blocking out China and you have to do it as well.
21:03Now, I think that was a big fear three months ago.
21:06Fast forward to today.
21:07And now if Trump goes to Europe and says, hey, if you don't block out China, we're not going to be friends.
21:12Europe is going to say we are not friends.
21:14What are you talking about?
21:15Like, we're not friends anymore.
21:17You can't tell us what to do today.
21:19You know, if you're Thailand, if you're Indonesia and you see how Trump has treated Ukraine and you see how Trump has treated Canada and you see how Trump has treated France and like all these other countries.
21:32countries that are nominally friends to the United States.
21:35If you're Indonesia, if you're Thailand, do you think, okay, I'm going to be turning my back on China and doing more with the U.S.
21:42Or do you think, hmm, U.S. is not a very stable friend.
21:45I need to do more with China and less with the U.S.
21:48I think you think the latter, right?
21:49The U.S. closing in on itself opens up huge avenues for China to do what China should now do is do friendly diplomacy.
22:00I actually think the biggest risk to all of this would be if oil prices, for whatever reason, shut up, because we've now all been used to a world where oil is pretty cheap.
22:16And what's happened in recent years is that everybody has drawn down their oil inventories.
22:24So the U.S. has usually a lot of oil inventories, but right now they're like essentially at 20 year lows.
22:31China usually runs pretty high oil inventories, but even in China, inventories are pretty low.
22:35Same story in Japan.
22:37And so now I'm not saying oil prices are going to shoot up, but if you had anything really bad happening, let's imagine that right now.
22:47Trump started to bomb the Houthis in Yemen.
22:50What if the Houthis turn around and say, you know what, we're going to go blow up the refined region Saudi Arabia, like, you know, payback Saudi Arabia, you're a friend of the U.S.
23:02U.S. is bombing us.
23:03So we're bombing you because we can't go bomb the U.S.
23:06It's too far away, but we'll bomb you instead.
23:08And again, I'm not saying this is going to happen, but then all of a sudden oil is at $100 because we have no inventories or it's at 110, 120.
23:17And then all of a sudden you're in a very different world, one where the Fed is hiking interest rates because the inflation is much higher.
23:24And it's then markets really sell off.
23:28And I think for me, that's the risk I worry about.
23:31I think Chinese regulations was adapted, more context dependent applications, you know, specific.
23:41As compared to the European regulations, we actually have a much umbrella, more broader regulations.
23:49But I think certainly in terms of comparing with their U.S.
23:54counterpart, probably our Chinese companies probably said they have much more regulations under them for their use.
24:02China actually has a very well-developed system to regulate AI companies.
24:09I think indeed, you know, it generates a lot of benefits.
24:14Most Chinese companies are subject to many specific regulations to ensure that the risks of their application would be minimized and mitigated.
24:25Chinese companies can do whatever they want.
24:27They may see that at the initial stage, indeed, for example, facial recognition was used somewhat widely.
24:35But now we see there's much more limitations on the use of that.
24:39Facial recognition is used is in many cases of the Chinese context actually provides actual more benefits of using, say, those technologies.
24:49For example, if you think about very crowded train station, if you want to get through high volume passing through.
24:57And in there, I think that actually facial recognition could be better than human checks.
25:03But even now, I think also, as already being changed, you no longer need facial recognition.
25:10So I think, first of all, I think there's indeed some use.
25:14And then you have more new regulations and that limit certain use that now being viewed as pervasive and may collecting data that people may not feel comfortable.
25:25So I think there is some adaptive evolution of Chinese regulations on the AI use.
25:32I think that both the government and the industry have a very clear sense, particularly the big companies.
25:38The real challenge is how to prevent so-called the AGI that's out of human control.
25:45That is something that indeed Chinese academia have talked a lot about and also government policy also have talked a lot about.
25:52And also how you have a lot of the industrial so-called the commitments that's provided by industrial associations.
26:00You know, I think companies are signing up for those commitments.
26:05So I think there are indeed a very wide range of tools that's been used to regulate AI applications.
26:13I've been trying to advocate for agile governance.
26:16I think the agile governance is really referring to the situation that technology moves very fast.
26:23As we see that almost like every day or every week, you see some new model, new progress is being made in AI.
26:30So technology moves very fast.
26:33However, I think for people who knows anything about the government, about regulations, about those things, that moves very, very slow.
26:41I mean, you have to first understand the situation and you draft something and to go through various consultations and then to debate.
26:50So that takes years.
26:52By the time you've already, you came up with something, the technology has already moved.
26:59You're always playing this chasing game.
27:01So I think that's the challenge for something like AI.
27:05That's the situation we face.
27:07And the other thing is also, because AI development is a new territory.
27:12When, for example, people are concerned about the AGI out of control and nobody knows when that will happen, right?
27:19You want it to push for the big model for AGI.
27:23But at the same time, at what point that becomes dangerous?
27:27So we've already been trying to, you know, I work with some people, technical people.
27:32And so I think defining some sort of red lines.
27:36But still, it's not easy.
27:37And so the first thing that we, after recognizing this limitation, we have to change our mindset of having this comprehensive, very covering everything.
27:49And, you know, to make sure that this does not miss anything.
27:53We really have to tolerate incomplete kind of governance measures.
27:58But maybe we focus on this part.
28:01Maybe we're missing some other part.
28:03But let's go ahead.
28:04Try to get this out so that actually would provide some guidance to the industry.
28:11So I think that's probably the first thing.
28:13So you have to abandon the idea that you wanted to have a very complete set of the rules to cover everything so that nobody can make any mistakes.
28:25That's probably going to be very hard.
28:27The second thing is that, related to this, it's the kind of tools you use.
28:32You don't want to use those very harsh punishment.
28:36Because I think it's an evolving process.
28:38You know, it could be mishaps in companies' innovation, in some wrongly-headed applications and so on.
28:46So you want to give them a signal, but not necessarily to punish them so hard so that it's very hard to innovate.
28:53The kind of tools you use will be somewhat different.
28:56And the third thing, I think, is the relationship between the regulators and those being regulated.
29:03In the past, I think that the regulator is like a cat.
29:07Those being regulated is sort of like a mouse.
29:10The mouse is always trying to find wiggle, trying to find where are the holes that I can sort of pass through.
29:16The regulator is like a cat.
29:18Okay, we're going to catch this mouse.
29:20If you're in that kind of a mindset, then it'd be very hard for the proper governance of the technology.
29:28The companies and the regulators, they need to have a good communication.
29:32So the companies can say, okay, we're moving in this direction.
29:36And we don't know what kind of problem this might produce.
29:39But we have a hunch that something might happen in this area.
29:43And the regulator can say, well, anything related to human lives and so on, that's a taboo.
29:49You can't do that.
29:50On the other hand, on some other things, you know, that might be possible.
29:53So you want to convey what's the government concern, the degree of concerns.
29:58And then the company can say, okay, what are the potential risks?
30:02That communication, they can strike a balance of where you want to move the technology.
30:08And that's a win-win situation.
30:10Because otherwise, the company might move in directions that actually is really worrisome to government.
30:16So the government actually to put a very harsh ban in that area.
30:21And so the entire area will no longer be able to develop it.
30:25So I think that communication is also crucial to define what are the more safe areas to work on.
30:33Because I think the companies don't know when they move forward, what are some of the potential risks.
30:39The government also don't know whether this is an area they can allow the company to move forward.
30:45So I think there's some kind of an untraded territory that they really have to work together to say, okay, how we can balance the innovation and the risk.
30:56In the Chinese papers that we published, we call this joint ignorance.
31:00We can say we are all learning.
31:02I think in terms of joint ignorance, I think it's from different countries also.
31:06I'm sure that there are indeed a lot of things that China is doing.
31:11I think people outside China do not know and vice versa.
31:15So I think at least those are the three areas.
31:19I think an agile governance approach might do better in this phase of the AI development.
31:25I mean, it's more use-nudging rather than big stick.
31:29And by the way, I don't think we are going to have a totally consistent global governance on AI.
31:38Because many of these AI applications are domestic, context-specific.
31:44So I can imagine that there may be some applications in European countries are governed in one way, in China, another, and the US, there's another.
31:54But at the same time, we also have some common risks that really, I think, threatens the existence of human beings.
32:04So those risks and we have to work together.
32:08So we call that a public good, AI safety as a global public good.
32:14I think it's those kind of risks like the AI system out of control.
32:19I think we need to have global collaborations.
32:23Of course, we're also concerned about AI being used in the military and in the conflict situations.
32:31And there again, I think something there's a need, you know, to be a global governing regime to make sure that indeed will not be put into those kind of situations.
32:41Let me, this is another thing I always like to use, what I call the regime complex.
32:46I think for people who study global governance, and this is a term people use it very often.
32:52A regime complex is referring to the situation that you have some critical issues of global governance.
32:59You are not short of regimes governing this issue, but you have too many.
33:05Many of these regimes can, they always, they have some say on this and they wanted to govern the data part.
33:12They want to govern the computing power and so on.
33:15So you have many overlapping regimes.
33:19Some of them are, you know, contradicting with one another and some other overlapping and so on.
33:24Unfortunately, this regimes, there's no hierarchical relationship.
33:29You can't say my regime is on top of yours.
33:32So that's the challenging situation for AI governance.
33:37So I think we all agree that indeed, UN system is still, we can say for the huge major challenge that like the air out of control should be, it should be a major platform.
33:50But at the same time, what kind of protocols to connect, you know, say if we're going to develop a verifying system and a system to check about the safety of the system, you may want to have some other international body with more technical capabilities such as ITU and others.
34:09And some people also say we may have to produce, create another more technically competent agency.
34:15So I think that at the moment, certainly I think it's something yet to be defined.
34:21And they actually we're working, you know, with, I'm working with some international colleagues and we're producing something for UN and to serve as an umbrella for global government.
34:31At the moment, at the moment, I think in terms of platform, we have UN and we have this AI summit series started in the UK and in Seoul and now in Paris.
34:43So I think that's another platform.
34:45And we have UNESCO and some other international.
34:48So we are not sure the platform, but we to have more enforceable kind of mechanism to ensure the safety of AI.
35:01UNESCO and UNESCO and UNESCO and UNESCO and UNESCO.
35:05Thank you, the minister, for your kind invitation.
35:09And thank you for the organizer of the forum for this great gathering.
35:14It's a great pleasure to speak at this forum on Myanmar Beyond 2025, challenges and opportunities in the multipolar world.
35:23And I will discuss four or five points for about 10 minutes.
35:30The first point is why a multipolar world is important.
35:36The answer is, in fact, very simple.
35:39Because the opposite to multipolar world, that is, unipolar world, is unjust, is outdated.
35:47Unipolarity literally means absolute power, which corrupts absolutely.
35:55In the unipolar world, sanctions, missiles, color revolutions, and even wars are the norms.
36:04And virtually everything from dollars to trade to technologies to climate change can all be weaponized,
36:13which cause so many havocs and untold human sufferings for millions upon millions of people.
36:22My second point is that a multipolar world has already emerged.
36:28With the rise of China, Russia, India, the BRICS, and the ASEAN, and more, a multipolar world has already emerged.
36:41In the case of China, with seven decades of socialist construction, China has become the world's largest economy by purchasing power parity since 2014.
36:54It's already 11 years since China has become the world's largest economy by PPP.
37:00It's also the largest industrial manufacturing and trading nation in the world.
37:07It's also the world's largest consumer market.
37:12Amazingly, at the speed of roughly almost one industrial revolution,
37:20we accomplish almost one industrial revolution after another.
37:25Usually within one decade, we complete one industrial revolution.
37:30China missed the first and second industrial revolutions due to historical reasons.
37:37But since the new China was founded in 1949,
37:42and with the first 30 years under Chairman Mao, we laid the foundation,
37:47economic, social, cultural, and other foundations.
37:50And then beginning from the reform era, tracing to 1978.
37:57With this four or five decades, roughly, we complete one revolution after another.
38:04So by now, China is at the full frontier of the fourth and the new industrial revolution,
38:12with big data, AI, and quantum technologies in the more, as shown in the case of DeepSeq.
38:19Now China is also the only country capable of providing goods, services, and experiences
38:29from all the four industrial revolutions to the whole world.
38:34And all this has already shown that multiple world has emerged.
38:40So this fact alone, the four industrial revolutions in one, also means China is already very different.
38:49The world is already different.
38:52The third point is the rise of China and Russia and more as civilizational states,
39:00or as civilizational communities in the multipolar world.
39:05And this is important.
39:07As a full-fledged independent pole, China is also a civilizational state.
39:13With full sovereignty, powerful defense capability, immense economic, technological, cultural, and intellectual power.
39:20We believe in the motto of unite and prosper, not divide and rule.
39:26We hate that.
39:28Within China, we practice unite and prosper.
39:31In the international reader, we also advocate unite and prosper.
39:34We reject Western belief in divide and rule.
39:38We embrace the idea of a sheer future for mankind, not the American one.
39:44If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.
39:49Likewise, despite the controversies of the Ukraine conflict, Russia's determined resolve to change the unipolar world is widely appreciated by the global south.
40:05And Russia is also a full-fledged independent power and with enormous power of a civilizational state.
40:13Same goes with the BRICS as a whole and with ASEAN as a whole.
40:18They are, I consider also, on the way towards civilizational communities.
40:23And my fourth point is, yes, a multipolar world is there.
40:31But a multipolar world order has not yet been achieved.
40:37That's something we should try to work together.
40:40And this forum is one of these interesting initiatives.
40:46And these poles, you know, multipoles, may have differences within themselves.
40:54Yet, importantly, they all share one common objective.
40:59That is, they want to establish a multipolar world order based on peace, development, based on mutual respect, based on common prosperity.
41:12And many of them also consider themselves as civilizational states or civilizational communities.
41:18The key difference between a civilizational state and civilizational community and typical, what the Western call the nation state,
41:27is with civilizational state and community, we have deep culture and deep people.
41:34That's different.
41:35I gave an interview the other day concerning this telephone call between the U.S. and the Russian leaders.
41:43They said whether they are going to work together against China.
41:46I said, no chance, because China and Russia are civilizational states.
41:50We have deep culture, deep people.
41:52The United States, not yet.
41:54They have to work hard to achieve that.
41:56And another commonality is all these other poles and global south reject categorically the Western moral lecturing or imposition of its values on them.
42:11And indeed, you know, I remember the former EU foreign, what's called the senior foreign minister, diplomatic representative, Joseph Borrell.
42:28He said this time last year, he said almost everyone in the non-Western world, in the global south, thinks now that there are credible alternatives to the West,
42:42not only economically, but also technologically, militarily and ideologically.
42:49And this is very important.
42:52In other words, this unipolarity, this unipolar world order is based on these four pillars, technology, military ideology and economics.
43:02But even an EU foreign policy representative consider these four pillars have been shaken.
43:09So this is important.
43:11He admits this fact, which is true.
43:13And finally, I want to use, in order to build up this multipolar world order,
43:21I just share with you one quick example of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.
43:28Basically, it's the today world's largest platform or common good for development and cooperation.
43:38Already over 150 countries participating, over close to 5000 projects going on.
43:45And I think with this, we can see both hard power and soft power from China as a civilizational state.
43:54In terms of hard power, we can provide what we call total solution for industrialization.
44:00For instance, we can build up the total solution to chemical industry for quite a few countries participating in BRI.
44:08Within two years, a complete industrial sector, petrochemical energy.
44:14Same with today, renewable energies, EVs and many other sectors.
44:19With soft power, I mentioned already, we believe in unite and prosper, not divide and rule.
44:24We believe in shared future for mankind, not at the table or on the menu.
44:30And we also believe the key philosophy in the BRI initiative, why it can extend and spread so fast.
44:39The key philosophy behind this BRI is discussing together, building together, benefiting together.
44:48You join the initiative out of your own interest, not someone impose that on you.
44:55So that has even worked out better.
44:58In the end, I said, this has created a, what I call, a win-win cooperative multipolar world order.
45:08Or at least, lay a foundation for the new, what we envisage, a multipolar world order.
45:16So, thank you very much for your patience. Thank you.
45:25And this was another episode of Shine and Out.
45:29A show that opens a window to the present and the future of the iShine Eye.
45:32And hope you enjoy it and see you next time.
45:34We'll see you next time.
45:35We'll see you next time.
45:41We'll see you next time.