00:00Asia's economic growth is set to outperform the rest of the world in 2025.
00:05At least that's the prediction from the London-based independent think tank Asia House,
00:10which has released its annual economic outlook.
00:13Now, this comes despite the risk of a potential trade war and volatile global markets.
00:18Our correspondent Li Junhua is following the story and joins us now in studio.
00:22So, Junhua, tell us more about this report.
00:24Well, Sally, I think two key words, growth and uncertainty.
00:28And as Jamie just said in the opening,
00:30that Asia's economy is set to dominate the economic growth all across the world,
00:35outperform the rest of the world in terms of GDP growth.
00:39So, GDP is expected to average about 4 percent,
00:44much higher than the global average 2 percent predicted by the WTO trade organization.
00:51So, who are the top performers this year?
00:54India, Vietnam and the Philippines are expected to lead with growth rates exceeding 6 percent.
01:00And China always gets the most attention.
01:02And this year, China's economic growth rate is forecast to reach 4 percent.
01:07And depending on the effectiveness of its stimulus measures,
01:10which are highly likely to happen according to the report,
01:13but we wouldn't be able to find out until the two sessions in March this year and every year.
01:18The incoming Trump administration is another factor that could influence China's economic performance this year.
01:25What's more interesting this year is non-aligned nations are benefiting from China-US competition in the tech sector.
01:33And these two countries are Singapore and Malaysia.
01:35And Asia's export-driven economies are likely to face challenges
01:40if Trump's threats of imposing tariffs across the board materializes.
01:45And the report's lead author said to me that we probably should pay more attention to these three countries,
01:51Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, because a lot of their exports are destined for the United States.
01:57Closer to home, China-UK relations have been in the spotlight
02:01with the rather controversial visit of the UK finance minister's visit to China a few days ago.
02:07What's the current state of play? What's the relationship like at the moment, would you say?
02:12I think according to the ambassador, critical is the word.
02:15The ambassador touched upon a lot of other topics, including China's economy, the past year and this year,
02:22its trade ties with other countries and regions and regional conflicts and China-UK relations in particular.
02:29The ambassador started the speech with a very, very positive notes, actually, on China-UK relations,
02:36referencing Rachel Roof's recent visit to China.
02:40He also highlighted that the annual bilateral trade between the two countries,
02:44if you also include the trade volume between the UK and Hong Kong, is exceeding US$13 billion.
02:51He emphasized now it is a critical juncture for China-UK trade ties. Let's take a listen.
02:57Our focus should be on cooperation instead of challenging each other or competing with each other.
03:07We do have differences on certain issues, but they can always be properly handled in the spirit of mutual respect.
03:16When the chancellor, when she was in Beijing, she told our people that the UK government has put economic growth at the centre.
03:30So we hope the Labour government can also put economic cooperation at the centre and let's focus on cooperation.
03:42China-UK ties have witnessed more high-level exchanges ever since Labour came to power in July last year
03:50and according to the ambassador, both sides are moving on the right trajectory.
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