00:00Let's talk to Shaolin Chen, the Head of International Crane Shares.
00:04So China sets its lowest economic growth since 1991.
00:08I mean, is this simply just a sensible admission of the international and the domestic challenges that China and many
00:15other countries now face?
00:17I think China's aim to achieve a moderately developed economy in the coming years.
00:23So they're setting this growth target, one, realistically reflecting the current situation,
00:29not only domestically, also internationally.
00:32They clearly face some challenges, not only China.
00:35Every country today faces very much a big uncertainty outside their own country today.
00:40I think the GDP target they set today, around four and a half to five, is a realistic target.
00:45That's one.
00:46Second, they still put them on track to achieve the modernization and urbanization goal they set for many years ago
00:53and continue to be the case.
00:54But this year, you're going to see a lot of the setting goals in the past become in action this
00:59year to achieve that growth target.
01:02I mean, Beijing is facing weak consumption, a shrinking population, a property crisis, global Trump trade tariffs,
01:09this energy crunch in Iran because of the military conflict, as so many other countries do as well.
01:17Will two sessions fix all of this for China?
01:20Two sessions are not traditionally designed to face, fix all of these problems in one.
01:29But it is a one place to set a policy guidance.
01:34And therefore, as a result, you will see the real actions to help in all the different directions you just
01:40mentioned to help this economy in that way.
01:42So two sessions is important to set as a guidance, a sentiment, people know which direction this country is taking.
01:50I think so far, the released, you know, the government work report has indicated all these above issues in consumption,
02:00in how to help the property market, how to achieve the growth target.
02:03It's all mentioned in this work report and more on the 15 five-year plan, detailed 15 five-year plan
02:10to be released in the coming days.
02:11You will get all these targets and goals and policies that specifically aim to achieve or to deal with individual
02:19problems.
02:19We all know about the geopolitical crisis the world faces and all the countries in it.
02:25But I mean, Beijing also today made it very clear they're rather exciting ambitions, particularly in the field of becoming
02:32a global technological powerhouse and in particular the use of artificial intelligence.
02:38That's totally, absolutely the focus in every single meeting, almost for the last two or three years you hear they
02:44have changed the tone very strongly to emphasize that China not only need to catch up in technology, in innovation,
02:52technology, AI development, they want to lead.
02:55They want to set the lead by the example.
02:57Can China deliver that?
02:58I think if you look at their achievements in electrical vehicle, they continue to be dominating that player in that
03:06field.
03:06And today in these two sessions in the Premier Li's report, he repeatedly mentioned carbon, achieve the carbon neutral, carbon
03:14goal is still set at the top of the agenda.
03:17So I think a lot of the technology they give up in the EV area are easily adoptable to AI,
03:23to human eye, to the new wave of the technology.
03:26So I think China is ready for the next wave of technology innovation happening in China.
03:32Well, what will investors in China make of what they're seeing over the last few hours from Beijing?
03:39This is a great question because I had the great pleasure to meet quite a few corporates that are from
03:44China that are visiting Europe this week.
03:46And namely, they're all in the AI and human eye robotics field, which is very timely.
03:52They're looking for how they can export those technologies outside of China.
03:55So far, they are very excited because it's a strong message from the government on technology, strong supporting policies come
04:02out from these kind of statements so far.
04:04They get very excited by supporting funding by the government, the policy from top down.
04:10Also, the country aims to achieve technology self-resilience.
04:14So, let's go.
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