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Speaker 1: Peter Lewis is Asia Business correspondent. He's with us tonight. Hi, Peter,

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Speaker 1: Good evening. Ryan Hijinpang has had a meeting with some

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Speaker 1: pretty prominent entrepreneurs this week. What is the message that

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Speaker 1: he's sending to the business community there.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think he's sending a message that technology and

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Speaker 2: private the private sector is absolutely essential to growth in

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Speaker 2: China going forward, and that if they want to counter

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump and all his various tariffs, the best way

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Speaker 2: is to be able to rely on the large domestic

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Speaker 2: economy that China has and to grow that and to

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Speaker 2: boost consumption. Now, this meeting was very unusual because President

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Speaker 2: she doesn't normally meet with private sector executives, and in fact,

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Speaker 2: the last time he did so about four years ago.

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Speaker 2: That started a clampdown on a lot of private companies

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Speaker 2: like Ali Barba, like ten Cents, which really hit the

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Speaker 2: share prices of all these companies. They were subjected to

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Speaker 2: investigations that went on for years for fines, and he

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Speaker 2: basically took the view that these companies were only allowed

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Speaker 2: to exist with the permission of the state, and therefore

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Speaker 2: they were subservient to the states. And that's what really

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Speaker 2: led to this big crackdown and the demise of the

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Speaker 2: Chinese stock market. Well, that seems to have all changed.

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Speaker 2: President She seems to be delivering a different message now

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Speaker 2: and it was probably highlighted most of all by the

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Speaker 2: reappearance of Jack mar the founder of Ali Barba. He's

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Speaker 2: really been in exile since about twenty twenty when Ali

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Speaker 2: Barba got clamped on by Beijing after he criticized the

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Speaker 2: regulators for lack of innovation, and that you may remember

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Speaker 2: that the Ants Group IPO was suddenly canceled at the

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Speaker 2: very last minute. It was going to be the biggest

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Speaker 2: Chinese IPO ever. So he went into exile in Japan. Well,

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Speaker 2: he reappeared at this meeting, shook hands with President She.

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Speaker 2: So it really was very symbolic that Jack Marr was back,

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Speaker 2: that Ali Barba was back, and these companies were going

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Speaker 2: to be allowed to prosper once again. Excuse me. It's

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Speaker 2: really boosted the share price of these companies. Ali Barber's

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Speaker 2: up about eleven percent a day following its results last night.

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Speaker 2: It's risen about fifty percent in just the last month.

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Speaker 2: I did about one hundred billion dollars in market cap,

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Speaker 2: but that's being reflected by a lot of other tech

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Speaker 2: companies that are listed here in Hong Kong at the

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Speaker 2: moment as well, that are really surging right now.

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Speaker 1: How much of that is to do with the Chinese government,

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Speaker 1: How much does it do with Beijing needing growth?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, they really do need to grow their economy.

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Speaker 2: It is very much in the in the doldrums. People

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Speaker 2: aren't spending and consumption international compared with international levels is

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Speaker 2: very low. In China it's about forty percent of GDP.

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Speaker 2: Well in the US it's more than three quarters of GDP.

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Speaker 2: So they really need to boost their domestic economy, get

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Speaker 2: consumers spending and technology is going to be one of

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Speaker 2: the ways in which that's going to be done, the

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Speaker 2: adoption of AI and more advanced technology, of green technology.

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Speaker 2: Really these companies need to boost those areas and that

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Speaker 2: will feed through to consumption and economic growth. So these

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Speaker 2: companies are absolutely essential to China meeting its growth targets

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Speaker 2: and being able to fight back against the Donald Trump's

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Speaker 2: tariffs which have been put on the country.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of which, Peter, we've got Trump Beshing has chased

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Speaker 1: over in the US from the White House about reciprocal

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Speaker 1: terrorists and then Mode in India is looking at all

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Speaker 1: of this, and he's actually starting to movee, starting to

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Speaker 1: cut some import texas.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so well, India's in an testing position. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it really wants to develop ties, cultivate ties with both

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Speaker 2: the US and with China. It doesn't want to take sides,

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Speaker 2: and it's been walking this incredible type rope for about

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Speaker 2: the last two years now where it's sort of almost

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Speaker 2: trying to play the two off against each other and

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Speaker 2: benefit from both sides. But it can't really afford at

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Speaker 2: this stage in its growth to have sweeping tariffs from

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Speaker 2: the US, and it does have very high tariffs itself

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Speaker 2: on international goods going into China, for example, into India

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Speaker 2: on motorcycles for example, there's one hundred percent tariffs on imports.

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Speaker 2: So Trump's tariff threats aren't having an impact. Mode has

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Speaker 2: been over to see him at the White House. They're

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Speaker 2: talking about a wide ranging trade agreement and cutting India's

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Speaker 2: tariffs to make it more competitive, not just for the

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Speaker 2: US but for other countries to be able to walk

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Speaker 2: there and do business there. Now, that's going to be

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Speaker 2: good for India. I mean, India is one of the

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Speaker 2: fastest growing economies in Asia, but it needs to keep

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Speaker 2: that going because it's got a very large population, a

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Speaker 2: lot of young people who need jobs, so it's absolutely

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Speaker 2: essential that growth is maintained at around at least six percent.

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Speaker 2: We have been seeing eight percent over the last couple

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Speaker 2: of years, but it has slowed off a bit in

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Speaker 2: the last few months. So it's probably a sensible response

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Speaker 2: to actually try and reduce its own tariffs to mitigate

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Speaker 2: the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs.

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Speaker 1: Peter Singapore's announced vouchers and tax breaks to help people

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Speaker 1: with the rising cost of living.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's going to be six hundred dollars worth of

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Speaker 2: Singapore dollars worth of vouchers. Old people are also going

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Speaker 2: to get an extra I think two hundred dollars each

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Speaker 2: to try and boost the economy there. There's an election

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Speaker 2: coming up later this year, so obviously that's part of it,

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Speaker 2: and these handouts will hopefully help alleviate some of the

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Speaker 2: cost of living pressures. Singapore is one of the most

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Speaker 2: expensive cities in the world to live. Housing costs are

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Speaker 2: extremely expensive, so there is a real cost of living

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Speaker 2: problem in Singapore that the government needs to address, and

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Speaker 2: the way it's doing that is through these consumption vouchers.

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Speaker 1: Fascinating stuff, Peter, thank you very much for that. Peddle Lewis,

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Speaker 1: Asia Business Correspondent. For more from Hither Duplassy Alan Drive,

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