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00:08hello tell us in English presents a new episode of China now a wave medias production that
00:13showcases the culture technology and politics of the Asian giant in this first segment China
00:18currents take a deep dive into the week's top stories from how multinational companies see
00:23China to wearable robots that are making long walks easier at tourist sites in China let's see
00:34hello and welcome to China currents this week what this year's China international import expo
00:40tells us about how multinational companies see China wearable robots that are making long walks
00:46easier at tourist sites across China and finally China extends the pause on part of its additional
00:52tariffs on US goods let's get into it a cocoa deal from Ghana has become one of the small
00:59highlights of this year's China International Import Expo the ninth China International
01:04Import Expo or CIIE opened on Shanghai on November 5th on the very first day a Ghanaian cocoa processing
01:11company signed a deal with the Chinese buyer for 250 tons of cocoa products worth nearly 2 million US
01:19dollars what's interesting is that last year the company was only showcasing its products at the
01:24expo through a Chinese partner this year as its business has grown the company's head came to
01:30Shanghai in person hoping to expand further into the Chinese market the company is also looking to
01:37learn from China's cocoa processing technology and business experience and that's just one example
01:43of what this year's expo has to offer a total of 162 countries regions and international organizations
01:50are taking part in this year's event with over 4,000 overseas companies exhibiting the exhibition
01:56area has exceeded 440,000 square meters for the first time more than 480 new products technologies and
02:05services are making their global Asian or China debut from food and consumer goods to medical equipment
02:11and advanced manufacturing companies from around the world are looking to the expo for opportunities to
02:17enter the Chinese market one draw is the scale of China's consumer market for overseas companies
02:23China offers not only a large pool of potential customers but also a market where they can introduce
02:29new products and see how consumers respond this year's expo however also points to another shift
02:35some multinational companies are coming to China not just to sell products made elsewhere but to tap into
02:41the country's research and development capabilities and industrial supply chains working with local
02:47teams to develop new technologies Volkswagen for example showcased an electric vehicle featuring a
02:53technology platform developed by its China team known as Vega the platform has been under development for
02:59four years it covers the vehicle platform electrical and electronic architecture and advanced driver
03:05assistance systems Volkswagen says it plans to bring the technology to more overseas markets as well
03:37there's a similar story in medical technology Medtronic unveils
03:41for the first time globally an orthopedic surgical robot developed independently by its China team the US
03:49medical technology company says it is moving beyond its earlier approach of mainly bringing global
03:53technologies into China and placing greater emphasis on local research and development and innovation
03:59partnerships these examples show how the relationship between multinational companies and the Chinese market is
04:06becoming more varied China remains an important market for selling products but for some companies it is also
04:12becoming a base for research and development testing new technologies and bringing innovations to market and this
04:19shift isn't limited to China itself at this year's expo some multinational companies said technologies developed and
04:26in China could eventually be put to use in other countries and regions China's industrial supply
04:32chains engineering talent and market demand are becoming part of their global business operations from a cocoa deal with the
04:39company in Ghana to medical equipment and automotive technologies developed in China this year's expo is showing more than how
04:46foreign
04:46foreign products can find their way into the Chinese market it is also showing how China is becoming part of
04:51the innovation and
04:52growth strategies of global companies for a growing number of overseas businesses China is not just a place to sell
04:59their products it is also a place to find new
05:01new technologies new partners and new opportunities for growth next a look at how technology is helping more people get
05:08out and
05:08enjoy China's famous landmark for some people a long walk is more than just tiring it can be a challenge
05:13that keeps them from enjoying
05:15places and experiences that others take for granted and China is increasingly looking to technology to change that one
05:22example is the growing use of wearable robotic exoskeletons devices that work alongside the human body to provide extra support
05:29when walking or
05:30climbing they are now appearing across tourist attractions in China at places like Mt. Tai and the Great Wall visitors
05:38can
05:38rent them to make steep climbs and long walks less physically demanding and now the technology is set to reach
05:44one of
05:44China's most famous urban landmarks Westlake in Hangzhou under a new partnership announced on November 3rd more than a
05:52thousand exoskeleton devices are planned for deployment across the scenic area with over 20 self-service rental points the
05:59devices weigh around two and a half kilograms and can recognize eight different movement patterns
06:03according to their developer they can reduce the physical effort of walking by around 35% but the
06:10significance of this development goes beyond making sightseeing more comfortable for older people those
06:16with limited stamina or anyone who finds walking long distances difficult even relatively simple
06:21activities can become challenging technologies like these offer a way to make public spaces and everyday
06:27experiences more accessible and this is part of a wider shift in how China is applying new technology
06:34exoskeletons were once largely associated with medical rehabilitation and specialized industrial
06:39applications advances in robotics sensors and intelligent control systems are now making them lighter and more
06:46suitable for ordinary users rental services are also lowering the cost of trying out the technology without requiring
06:53people to buy an expensive device of their own China is also looking beyond tourism in January China
07:00introduced new guidelines encouraging the use of technologies such as exoskeleton robots and brain
07:05computer interfaces to help older people with declining physical abilities the goal is to bring more
07:11technology into elderly care and everyday assistance China is seeing a growing number of older people by the end of
07:18the end of the year in 2024 more than 310 million people in the country were aged 60 and above
07:24that
07:25creates a growing need for better ways to support mobility independence and quality of life of course wearable
07:31robots are not a solution to every mobility challenge and the technology still has room to improve but
07:37their growing presence in public spaces shows how China's technology sector is exploring applications beyond factories
07:43laboratories and high-end industries the measure of technological process is not only how advanced a machine
07:48can become but also how much it can do to help people live their lives and increasingly
07:53in China that is becoming part of the conversation about what technology is for
07:58finally to trade where China and the US are still working to put their latest agreements into practice
08:05under an announcement released on November 9th China's state council tariff commission will continue
08:10suspending an additional 24% tariff on imports from the United States from November 10th
08:16a separate 10% additional tariff will remain in place the decision follows the agreement reached by
08:22the Chinese and US presidents at their meeting in Washington it also gives businesses in both
08:27countries more certainty as they plan their trade and operations and there is more to the discussions than
08:32this latest tariff adjustment in September Chinese and US trade negotiators agreed on a framework for
08:38reducing tariffs on goods worth around 30 billion US dollars from each country the two sides have also
08:44agreed on the product lists which cover a wide range of goods China's list includes US agricultural
08:50products personal care products medical devices and coal the US list includes Chinese toys household
08:57appliances baby products kitchen and bathroom goods and festive gifts under the arrangement more than 90%
09:03of the products on the lists are expected to receive most favored nation tariff treatment meaning the
09:09additional tariffs imposed under the trade measures would be removed for those products but the
09:13reductions have not taken effect yet both sides still need to complete their domestic procedures
09:18before putting them into practice agriculture is another area where the two countries are looking
09:23to make progress China has said it is willing to expand purchases of US agricultural products while
09:28also calling on Washington to address restrictions on Chinese agricultural exports the two sides plan to
09:34hold their first meeting under a bilateral agricultural working group by the end of this year
09:38at the same time some issues remain unresolved China has pointed to US plans to replace tariffs imposed under the
09:46international emergency economic powers act or ieepa with tariffs under section 301 of the trade act of 1974
09:55US courts have ruled the ieepa based tariffs invalid
10:00Beijing says it will closely monitor Washington's next steps and adjust its own tariff measures accordingly
10:05the issue was also raised during a video call on November 6 between Chinese vice premier He Li Fung
10:11US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and US Trade Representative Jameson Greer
10:17during the call China expressed serious concerns over recent US trade restrictions both sides agreed to
10:23continue using their trade consultation mechanism to discuss outstanding issues so the latest announcement
10:29is not just about extending a tariff suspension but it is another step in carrying out the agreements
10:35reached by the two countries leaders while both sides continue working through the issues that remain
10:40for companies that are trading between China and the United States the immediate benefit is a clear
10:45picture of the tariffs that they will face over the next two months and as more agreements are put
10:50into practice the question is whether both sides will stick to what they've agreed
10:55in the United States the United States the United States the United States the United States the United States
10:56we have a short break now but don't go away because we'll be right back
11:18welcome back to China now in this second segment topics invites us to take a closer look to the biggest
11:25piece of the post-war
11:26territorial disputes between Japan and Russia also thinkers forum welcomes sound rain founder of China market research group
11:34to analyze the resounding victory of the Democratic Party over the Republican Party in US 2026 midterm elections let's have
11:41a look
11:42on the 13th of October a set of photographs appeared on the official website of Russia's Sakhalin Oblast government
11:49they showed a group of Chinese visitors on Itorafu Island known in Russia as Itura late that night
11:55Japan's foreign ministry lodged representations with both Russia and China through diplomatic channels the next day
12:02Japan's foreign minister gave a one-line verdict in parliament absolutely unacceptable what caught Tokyo off guard was
12:09not the delegation it was the location Itorafu is the largest of the four islands Japan calls the Northern
12:15Territories and the largest Japanese island outside Honshu Hokkaido Kushu and Shikoku it lies just 144.5 kilometers from Cape
12:25No Sapu in Nemuro Hokkaido it is not a small remote rock it is the biggest piece of the post
12:32-war
12:32territorial dispute between Japan and Russia according to Kyoto news on the 13th of October the Sakhalin
12:39regional government announced that a delegation of entrepreneurs and administrative officials from
12:44Hai Longjiang province had visited the island which Russia controls to study the feasibility of cooperation
12:50projects Ria Novosti called it the first Chinese business delegation to visit the Kuril Islands the
12:57visit ran from the 9th of October to 1-1 in the photographs released by the regional government the
13:02delegation toured a seafood processing plant and showed interest in hotel development sea urchin and sea
13:08cucumber farming Governor Valerie Laimarenko said the Kuril Islands have huge potential for tourism and business
13:15our task is to improve the investment environment this was not an isolated event in August Vladimir Putin
13:22visited Itorafu the first time as president Kyoto noted since he took office in 2000 Russia has been
13:28offering tax incentives to attract investment to the islands in early 2024 Deputy Prime Minister Yuri
13:35Trutnov said Chinese entrepreneurs were interested in investing in the Kurils Beijing's line came the next
13:41day at the foreign ministry's regular briefing on the 14th of October spokesperson Mao Ning responded to a
13:47Japanese reporter a delegation from Hai Longjiang had visited the province's sister region Sakhalin
13:53Oblast and its capital use no Sakhalinsk for friendly exchanges as for the commercial activities of private
13:59enterprises during the visit I have no comment that sentence deserves to be read word by word sister
14:06province is a characterization no comment is a deliberate blank it neither denies that the
14:11delegation set foot on the island nor elevates the trip to a state act so why does Itorafu matter so
14:17much according to the Nemiro city government in Hokkaido the island covers 3 166.7 square kilometers
14:25before the war it had three villages home to more than 3600 people in 739 households today it is mostly
14:33populated by Russians with Shana as its center it is not merely a large island the waters around it are
14:39fishing grounds that Hokkaido fishermen have worked for generations the island has hot springs and rare
14:45metal deposits and the Itorafu strait between Itorafu and Europe is one of the few ice-free channels from the
14:52sea of Okhotskuk to the Pacific the four islands Habomai Shikatan Kunashiri and Itorafu are currently under
14:59Russian control Japan claims them as its inherent territory Japan's cabinet office records are clear article 9 of the 1956
15:07Japan's Soviet joint declaration says the two sides agreed to continue negotiations for a peace treaty and the
15:14Soviet Union agreed to transfer the Habomai Islands and Shikatan to Japan after the treaty was concluded
15:20the ownership of Itorafu and Kunashiri was never settled the 1993 Tokyo declaration confirmed that the
15:27ownership of the four islands is a matter to be resolved by the peace treaty Itorafu is not a small
15:33island that can be traded away
15:34It is the hardest bone in Japan's post-war diplomacy with Russia In March 2022 Russia announced it was
15:41suspending peace treaty negotiations with Japan Since then Japan has had little left on the
15:47Northern Territories issue but protests There is another layer a red line Japan drew itself
15:52Kyoto noted that the Japanese government's position is that third countries should not invest in the
15:58Northern Territories and should not enter the area under Russian procedures The Chinese delegation stepped
16:03right on that line On the 13th of October Prime Minister Sané Takechi answered reporters at the
16:09Prime Minister's office We are confirming the facts and will respond appropriately based on our position
16:15A sitting Prime Minister still confirming the facts two days after the delegation had left
16:21That in itself is a message Late that night the foreign ministry lodged representations with Russia and China
16:27On the 14th Foreign Minister Tushimitsu Motegi and the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives
16:32delivered the verdict absolutely unacceptable Japan clearly did not know the itinerary in advance
16:38The news came from the Sakhalin government's website was followed up by Ria Novosti and only in the afternoon
16:44did Japanese media Kyoto, New Hampshire, Kei and others report it in force Japan was notified by Russia's own
16:52announcement But it is hard to say Tokyo's predicament today has no antecedents In recent years the side
16:59that has been actively setting the questions on China's sovereignty issues has mainly been Japan
17:04On the 1st of November 2025 Takechi met a Taiwan representative during the APEC meeting
17:10China protested Japan rejected the protest On the 7th of November she told the Budget Committee of
17:17the House of Representatives that if a Taiwan contingency involved the use of force it could
17:22constitute a survival-threatening situation A legal category that could allow Japan to exercise the right
17:28of collective self-defense That sentence broke the ambiguity the Japanese government had long maintained
17:35on Taiwan China's response came in layers On the 13th of November vice foreign minister Sunday
17:40Waidong summoned Japanese ambassador to China Kenji Kanesugi and lodged a solemn representation
17:46On the 16th of November the Ministry of Culture and Tourism advised Chinese tourists to avoid Japan
17:52for the time being And the Ministry of Education issued a study abroad warning
17:56On the 19th of November China suspended imports of Japanese seafood Mao Ning said under the current
18:03circumstances even if Japanese seafood were exported to China there would be no market
18:08On the 26th of November in a party leader's debate Takechi stopped citing specific cases
18:14and said she had answered honestly within that scope because I was asked about a specific case
18:20After the session Constitutional Democratic Party leader Yoshihiko Noda said he believed she had
18:27effectively retracted the earlier answer But Beijing did not accept that as a retraction
18:32Nearly a year later a China-Japan summit is still nowhere in sight
18:36Kyodo reported on the 27th of October that Takechi plans to attend the APEC economic leaders meeting
18:43in Shenzhen on the 18th of November negative 19 But whether she can hold a bilateral meeting
18:48with the Chinese leader is still under discussion Testing the limits on Taiwan on one hand
18:54While asking China to be mindful of Japan's feelings on the Northern Territories on the other
18:59Put the two together and Beijing's choice is not hard to understand So I prefer to see this visit
19:04as setting a question For a long time the power to set
19:08the agenda between China and Japan was asymmetric Japan could keep serving on Taiwan,
19:13the Daiyu Islands, the South China Sea, G7 statements and semiconductor export controls
19:18China mostly returned serve protest, representation, countermeasure with every move inside a framework
19:25set by the other side This time was different China did not keep raising the stakes on Taiwan
19:30It walked to another of Japan's sore points And this is not an isolated case
19:35On the 9th of October 2025, Sunday Lei, China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations
19:42urged Japan by name at the Third Committee of the General Assembly to stop prejudice and
19:47discrimination against Okinawans and other indigenous people Okinawa or Ryukyu had its status placed
19:54on the UN table by a Chinese representative In November 2025, the Chinese embassy in Japan
20:00cited the enemy state clauses of the UN Charter on social media Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara
20:06said Japan cannot accept China's assertion which is inconsistent with the facts On the 27th of October
20:15this year, Japan's Joint Staff Office announced for the first time that a Chinese Coast Guard ship
20:21together with three Chinese Navy vessels had passed through the Osumi Strait near Kagoshima Prefecture
20:26into the Pacific On the 30th of October, Kyodo News reported that a Chinese survey ship was conducting
20:33research near Heitoruma in Okinawa It left on the 1st of November, then came Itorofu from the 9th of October
20:40to 1-1. These moves share several features. First, they all fall within the interpretive space of
20:46international law or historical documents. None directly changes the status quo, but each reminds
20:52the other side, I can play this card too. Second, the cost is low, deniable, explainable, adjustable. A local
21:00exchange is a local exchange. A private company is a private company. Third, the timing is precise. Five weeks
21:07before the APEC meeting in Shenzhen, this is not emotional retaliation. It looks more like treating
21:12the power to set the agenda as an asset to be managed. Of course, there are costs. It will inflame
21:17hawkish opinion in Japan and give the Takaichi government a pretext to push forward with revisions
21:23of its security documents and to strengthen the US-Japan alliance. Kyodo reported on the 30th of October
21:29that Japan's draft revision of its security strategy still describes China as the greatest challenge.
21:35On the 28th of October, the Japanese and US defense ministers agreed to cooperate in building a defense
21:41system for the first island chain. In February this year, Japan also published for the first time a
21:47timetable for deploying missiles on Yonaguni Island. Every question China sets gives Japan one more reason
21:53to harden its defenses. But from Beijing's calculus, the trade may be worth it. On Taiwan, China's red line
22:00will not retreat because of Japanese protests. On the Northern Territories and Okinawa, China can impose
22:06symmetrical pressure without paying a substantial price back to the opening image. A provincial delegation,
22:12a three-day trip, a visit to a seafood processing plant, talks about sea urchins, sea cucumbers and hotels.
22:19In itself, it is small. But on Itorofu, it is not small. For Japan, what it really needs to get
22:25used to may
22:26not be whether the Chinese delegation will come again, but that the era in which only Japan set
22:31the questions and China answered them is ending. China's position has not changed and will not
22:36change because of one visit. What has changed is the method. While holding the bottom line,
22:41it is learning to place a peace quietly where the other side cares. Whether this peace becomes the next
22:46one depends on how Tokyo moves next. So last week, the Democrats, in a resounding victory,
22:56destroyed the Republicans in the midterm elections. You saw American states like Kansas and Texas,
23:03which historically have been strong red states, suddenly turn blue. Now, actually, I was in Texas
23:09during the elections and was there when the announcement was made. And you could hear cheers
23:15about switching away from Governor Abbott to a Democrat, moving away from Ken Paxton and John
23:23Cornyn, moving to James Tallarico, a Democrat. And I think the reason why is the American consumer
23:29is really hurting right now. I've actually spent a lot of time in the United States in the past six
23:35months. And I found when I interviewed people that gas prices were too high. Food prices had gone up over
23:4250 percent in restaurants over the last five years. The average cost of a new vehicle is just under
23:4850,000 US dollars. So there's two things that are really happening in the United States that's hurting
23:54the American consumer. The first is the Iran war. For Americans, they're angry at Trump and they're angry
24:01at Republicans for launching a war against Iran that really didn't need to be launched. You know, I'm almost 50
24:08years old right now. But ever since I was a little kid, I remember Israel's Netanyahu saying Iran is
24:15two weeks away from a nuclear weapon. So this is something that generations of Americans have been
24:21hearing since they were little kids. And Trump was the first person to act on it. Now, when you look
24:27at
24:27it, after bombing Iran, there was massive gasoline issues throughout the entire world. In many ways,
24:35China actually saved the world from a larger oil and financial crisis by reducing the number of barrels
24:42of oil that China consumes by about 5.5 million barrels a day. That's actually the same amount of
24:48oil that India consumes on a daily basis. Now, China was able to do this because they generate 2.5
24:55terawatts of clean energy from wind and solar. But here's the thing. Despite China being a good actor
25:03in this Iran war, oil prices are above 6 US dollars a gallon in parts of the United States. So
25:11Americans
25:11are angry at Trump. They're angry at the Iran war. And life is just unaffordable. The second part is you
25:19have to look at it. For 10 years now, there's been a trade war between the US and China. China
25:24is suffering
25:25economically since 2018 when Trump first launched the trade war. And then when Biden doubled down on the
25:32tariffs and export controls. So in China, we're facing a deflationary pressures. That's why retail
25:38sales only went up about 0.9% last quarter in China. That's why a lot of Chinese are sitting
25:45on 40%
25:46household savings over 20 trillion US dollars because Chinese are not willing to spend right now. If they
25:53want to buy a big ticket item like a car or house, they're just not spending the money because they
25:58think
25:59maybe if they wait three months, prices will come down. So we're in a very dangerous deflationary
26:04cycle in China because of the trade war. But no surprise, because of the tariffs from Trump,
26:11prices in the United States are skyrocketing out of control. So even McDonald's, even Walmart,
26:17which should do well in a recession or depressionary environment, they've said their numbers are not doing
26:23well because American consumers can't afford to eat out. And they can't afford to buy products
26:29at Walmart and Target anymore because of the trade war. So this is economics 101. The Americans are hurting
26:38the entire world with their trade war, especially Trump. And so China's facing deflation, America's
26:44facing inflation. And we've seen the combination of the tariffs along with the Iran war has gotten the
26:52American consumer or the American voter angry at Republicans and saying we no longer want to vote
26:59red. At the end of the day, we just want to take care of our kids. We want to be
27:03able to put food on
27:04the plate for our children, send our kids to school, get medical care for our children if there's ever
27:09a problem. And I think Republicans forgot that with the affordability crisis. The other part of it is,
27:16I think, and I've talked about this on this program over a year ago, I think President Trump is mentally
27:21ill right now. And so his behavior, both on social media and covering up for the Epstein files,
27:29attacking his former supporters like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Tucker Carlson has really made
27:35the American population, the American voters say, what's going on? We need to bring sanity back into
27:41the political situation. And I think that's why you saw a giant blue wave over the United States.
27:49Now, here's the thing. And I want to be very clear to Democrats in America. Don't think that your win
27:55is because Americans want DEI back. They don't want to have men playing in women's sports. They don't
28:03want to have people from certain racial backgrounds get better jobs or get into schools because of the
28:09color of their skin. No, no, no. Americans want, if you work hard, you get into good schools. If you
28:15work
28:15hard, you get good jobs. They just want an end of the insanity of the Trump regime. And they just
28:21want
28:21to have affordable products. I hope Democrats do that. You've already seen Ro Khanna, a congressman
28:29from California, say DEI is back. If he does this, then you're going to have chaos again in two years,
28:36and the Republicans will come back and win. Americans, at the end of the day, just care about putting food
28:42on
28:42the plate for their children. They don't care about these culture wars and wokeness that's been
28:48bouncing about in DC over the last 10 years. Here's the dangerous thing. The United States
28:54president, a lot of people like to say they have a lot of power. But in many ways, they don't.
29:00When
29:00it comes to domestic issues, there are a lot of checks and balances where you could see, even though
29:05before the midterms, Republicans held the House and the Senate and the White House. But they were
29:11still unable to get across a lot of their immigration policies because you would have governors from
29:17Democrat states like Governor Newsom in California or governments in Massachusetts say that they were
29:24not adhered to immigration laws and ICE. They would not cooperate with them. So actually, and I think this
29:31is a good and bad thing of the American political system is there are a lot of checks and balances.
29:36But when it comes to international issues, there are very few checks and balances. And that's why you
29:41see American presidents after World War II are always invading other nations because they have
29:48unchecked power. They can go to their Joint Chiefs of Staff. They can order the military to invade Vietnam.
29:54They can order the military to invade Korea. They can go into Afghanistan. They can go into Iraq.
30:00They can go into Iran. Now, Congress has the one that can declare war, but the president can say no
30:07war is
30:08going on, but still send tens of thousands of American troops abroad. And that's one of the reasons why
30:14America, even though I love it, has become a warmongering nation over the last 70 years. It's because there's
30:21no check, no balances on American presidential might when it comes to warring overseas or launching tariffs or
30:29doing anything international. And that's why you've seen in the last six to seven months, aside from
30:34attacking Iran, America has kidnapped Maduro, the president of Venezuela. That's why Trump was
30:41launching tariffs around the world. Now, it came back because of some checks and balances in the
30:47judicial system. But at the end of the day, what we need to be worried about is what is Trump
30:52going to do now?
30:52Trump might bomb. There's, you know, use the Moab bomb or maybe even nuclear bombs in Iran.
30:58He might do something with Zelensky and Putin in the Ukraine-Russia war. And worrisome for people in
31:05this part of the world, he might do something in Taiwan and China. Because again, this is the way he
31:10can distract from his losses in the United States. This is the way he can gain power. Again, some of
31:18it
31:18narcissistic, because again, I'm not a psychologist. But as we've discussed in the past, I think he has
31:23severe narcissism as one of the mental illnesses he has. And it's a way for him maybe to distract from
31:31his losses and regain power. And this is something we all have to be really worried about. You've seen
31:38that Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, you know, his wife is working for a consulting firm that counts
31:45Lockheed Martin as one of their major clients, the weapons manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.
31:51So what's happening is there's so much corruption, so much power plays that I think when you have
31:58someone who's mentally ill and wounded, like Trump is, he could unleash devastation on the world right
32:04now. And I think that's why he was quite calm after the first election votes, you know, came out.
32:09And he was like, yeah, I'll work with Democrats. But he was unusually quiet. He wasn't bellicose. Now,
32:15this morning, I actually spoke with some of Trump's top advisors, and they said that there's chaos going
32:21on in DC, a lot of finger pointing, people saying it was because of Hegseth. Other people say it's because
32:28of Besson and the tariffs. So there's a lot of anger, a lack of morale, a lack of trust. Some
32:34people say J.D. Vance
32:36might try to push Trump out by putting in the 25th Amendment and becoming president.
32:42So right now, you have a very difficult, chaotic situation in the United States, politically,
32:48which makes me worry that Trump might launch a war, again, because there's no checks and balances,
32:54to feed his narcissistic personality. I think Elon Musk is one of the greatest minds and innovators
33:00the world has ever seen. I think he surpassed Steve Jobs. I actually just bought a Tesla last week.
33:06I think he's amazing. I think he's gotten too political. And one of the problems I have with
33:12the American system, as it stands right now, and where we need a lot of reform, is that you get
33:17wealthy people donate and basically buy politicians. So Musk has backed, spent 450 million US dollars
33:27in this midterm elections is what the rumors are. George Soros, Ken Griffin, Peter Thiel,
33:33you know, some of the wealthiest Americans are actually essentially almost buying politicians,
33:40which I think is very dangerous. This type of behavior would be considered illegal in China.
33:45In China, the politicians control the billionaires. In America, the billionaires control the politicians.
33:51So I think for Musk, because he went so hard in with Trump, that there's a risk for him about
33:59getting
34:00attacked by the Democrats. You know, you've already seen a lot of Democrat congressmen have said,
34:05subpoenas, subpoenas. They're going to go after Trump. They're going to go after Trump's family.
34:09They're going to go after his cronies. And I think I can understand the reason why they want to do
34:14that.
34:15There's anger at Trump. They want to put him down and rid the country of the corruption. But I also
34:22think that they should remember the Democrats, you know, what's good for the nation. Should they not
34:28tear the country apart? Maybe they should do what Gerald Ford did with Nixon and pardon Nixon and move
34:35off so the country could move forward. I think it's time for the Democrats to be presidential. I'm not
34:41saying they should forgive corruption or forgive illegal activities. They should certainly go after
34:48that. But they should be cautious and make sure they don't do wholesale attacks just for the sake of
34:53attacking. Now, one of the things that I'm really happy about is Tolerico, the new senator in Texas and
34:59the new governor, both actually said really nice things about Musk and said that they want to work with
35:05SpaceX and Tesla, even though they had been criticized by Musk over the last few weeks.
35:12I think they were quite dignified in saying that they want to work with Musk on business issues.
35:17They want him to try to stay out of politics, not by politicians, but they want to create jobs and
35:23create investment opportunities for the people of Texas. Again, I'm hoping that the Democrats
35:29throughout the nation follow the lead of Tolerico and don't get into too much retaliation and don't
35:37get back into DEI and having men playing women's sports. We need to end the culture wars and focus on
35:44reducing inflation, ending wars in the Middle East, getting rid of tariffs and coming up with an accommodation
35:51to China because you don't want to bet against the American economy, but you certainly don't want to bet
35:57against the Chinese economy because over the last nine months, even though the Chinese economy is
36:04relatively weak and some parts are stagnant, the overall nation is getting more and more powerful.
36:10And so if the Democrats don't focus on how to make sure America is competitive in AI,
36:16competitive in data centers, then the Chinese are going to overtake the United States,
36:22which is starting to happen already.
36:31AI stocks collapsed and wiped off about $2 trillion in the equity markets in the US in the last week
36:39after the Democrats won the midterm. There's a lot of fears amongst investors that the Democrats are
36:45going to go after Jensen Huang at Nvidia, go after Google, go after Apple, go after Facebook or Meta
36:52and Zuckerberg, and go after all of the Silicon Valley billionaires and oligarchs who worked with
36:58Trump over the last two years. And you can see a lot of Democrat congressmen are saying,
37:03let's go after Silicon Valley. They aided and betted Trump over the last two years.
37:08So I think there's a fear that the profits is going to collapse for these companies,
37:14that these executives are going to be tied up in hearings in Washington DC for the next two years.
37:19And you've already seen some of the Democrats have said, we need to slow down AI. And so we need
37:26to
37:26stop it because it's too powerful. But here's the thing. Aside from the equity and economic collapse
37:34that the Democrats might herald in by pushing too hard to punish Silicon Valley, you have to know
37:42on the other side, the Chinese are not going to stop on their AI development, right? Whoever controls
37:48AI in the future is going to control the world. And China is moving fast, not just with companies like
37:55QN and DeepSeq on the AI LLMs, but they're also catching up to America on innovation and quality and
38:04semiconductors with companies like Habercom, companies like Hohong or SMIC. And in memory,
38:10CXMT is arguably as good as Hynix from South Korea. So I would not, as an investor, be wanting to
38:21buy
38:21American AI stocks right now, because there's just too much uncertainty of what's going to happen with
38:27Trump and happen with the Democrats over the next few months. Hopefully, again, the Democrats will be
38:34dignified the way the Texas new Democrat senator and governor is. But if you are an investor, you might
38:43want to consider looking at the Chinese equity markets. The star market has dropped 40%. The overall
38:49equity markets are down 20%. We're in a bear market. It's really bad right now. Valuations
38:56have collapsed and plummeted over the last four months. But I think what you're going to see happen
39:01is a lot of countries from Australia to UK to Switzerland, they're going to look to de-risk from
39:09the United States, and there's going to be more volume in capital moving towards China and Hong Kong.
39:15So I would be very cautious as a retail investor right now, very, very cautious. But now might be a
39:23time to start thinking about getting exposure to the AI and tech companies in Asia again, or specifically
39:31China and Hong Kong. The second thing is you might want to be looking at sort of the defensive stocks.
39:38What you've seen is seven, eight American companies have generated almost all of the profits and all of
39:47the equity boom in the American equity markets over the last six months, while about 80%, I think it is,
39:54of American equities have dropped. Now might be time to put money back into more conservative stocks that
40:01could benefit from the fear over AI. So you want to be looking at companies like Ralph Lauren, that has
40:07grown about 50% in China in the last quarter. Companies like Adidas, that has grown about 16% in
40:14China in the
40:15last quarter. Companies like On or Aloe, which are also doing very well. And I wanted to bring this
40:23back to the Chinese consumer, because a lot of people say the Chinese consumer is dead, because
40:28retail sales only went up 0.9% last month. And there's some truth to that, right? Again, because of
40:35the deflationary pressure, because the real estate market has continued to sputter in China with prices
40:41down 30% to 50% in most major cities. With the weak income and the low bonuses after Chinese
40:49New Year,
40:50the Chinese consumer is very, very cautious right now on spending money. They don't want to open up
40:55their wallets to buy big-ticket items like cars and houses, because they just don't know what the
41:01geopolitical situation and what their own personal financial situation will be over the next five to
41:0610 years. But when there are products or when there are services where Chinese see value, they will
41:14spend. And that's why you're seeing tourism is continuing to be very strong. Chinese are going
41:20to countries like Spain and Portugal and Australia for outbound tourist destinations. They're traveling
41:29within China, which is why trip.com is a company that's doing very well. But when it comes to
41:37spending, it's the Ralph Lauren's, the Adidas's, the Ons of the world are doing well because Chinese
41:43want to buy premium products. They're trading down away from a Louis Vuitton and a Gucci,
41:49trading up from something bought on Pinduoduo, and they're buying at the premium level.
41:54So when you look at AI, in many ways, it's a competition between the US and China,
42:02and it's a fierce competition. It didn't have to be this way, but over the last 10 years,
42:08I think America has become so xenophobic and so fear-mongering about China's rise that they
42:16turned China into an enemy. I don't think China was an enemy 10 years ago. I don't think even five
42:23years
42:24ago, China had to be an enemy. I think after the first Trump administration, the Chinese wanted to
42:31get back to a more normalized, reasonable relationship with the Americans. You saw the
42:36foreign minister, Wang Yi, after Biden once said, we'd like to get back on track. But instead of doing
42:42that, Anthony Blinken, then Secretary of State, and Biden actually ratchet up the pressure and ratchet up
42:50the hate-mongering against the Chinese during the Biden regime. So I think we've reached a point,
42:56unfortunately, where China and the US cannot be close. My career has been about trying to be a
43:02bridge between the two nations. I'm very sad and very depressed, because I think we have a minimum
43:0920 years, maybe 30 years of tension between the two countries, and it might last the rest of my life.
43:15And I think AI is going to be the major pinpoint where the two countries are going to clash,
43:22because whoever controls AI is going to control the world. And this is why I'm quite bullish for
43:29China. Because Biden and Trump both weaponized technology and weaponized the US dollar, you're
43:37starting to see the global majority or the global self are preferring to use Chinese chips, Chinese
43:44language learning models, because they're open source and cheaper, they're about 90% cheaper than
43:49the Anthropics and the chat GPTs of the world. So if you're in South Africa, if you're in UAE, if
43:58you're
43:58in Thailand, and you're a business owner, or if you're a student, you're going to use the technology
44:04that's accessible and cheap, and make your life better. You don't care about geopolitics, you don't care if
44:10it's American, you don't care if it's Chinese, you care about what's going to be best for your price
44:15point. And the reality is that's going to be Chinese. And you can look at it, you know, Malaysia
44:21spent $5 billion US dollars trying to become a data center warehouse hub. And his last week in office,
44:31Biden forbid the export of high end Nvidia chips to Malaysia, which almost destroyed Malaysia's ambitions
44:39and their chip making. But what happened, they started using Huawei chips. And after they started
44:45using Huawei chips and other Chinese chips, the Americans said they could use some Nvidia chips
44:49again. And so now in Malaysia, they're actually benefiting from playing the Americans and the
44:54Chinese off each other. And if you go into their data centers, they're using both American and Chinese
44:59chips, to the point that Google, earlier this week announced the $15 billion investment into Malaysia
45:05because of their strength and data centers. So the world is going to have to make a choice.
45:12Are they going to use American AI and chips or Chinese AI and chips? The reality is China both
45:20are going to do very well, because you've got great technology and great innovation in America. But
45:26China has the low cost basis. And they're almost as good, if not as good as the anthropics and the
45:33open
45:33AIs of the world. But they're at an accessible price point. This is where the fight is going to be.
45:39And it's going to be a fight for the next five, 10, 20 years. Because again, I don't see,
45:44I have very little hope, actually, that the US and China can get good relations again.
45:54And this was another episode of China Now, a show that opens a window to the
45:58present and future of the Asian giant. Hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you next time.