CGTN Europe spoke to Yao Yang, Director of the China Center for Economic Research at the Peking University
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00:00And to get some more analysis on this, I want to bring in Yao Yang, Director of China Center
00:04for Economic Research at Peking University. Thank you very much indeed for joining us today. Of
00:10course, Donald Trump's tariffs have galvanized the world. Might this Munich Security Conference
00:15be able to prevent some of these measures from escalating?
00:21Well, I see very positive signs from the conference. The EU chairperson,
00:28Wang Danai, said she actually opposed the tariff. And many other participants I talked with
00:38also opposed the tariff. But the most encouraging sign actually comes from China's Foreign Minister
00:46Wang Yi. He said there were clearly China seeks cooperation with the United States.
00:52I can see a lot of room for cooperation. China is ready to talk with the United States.
01:01And from the American side, there are also positive signs because President Trump has said many times
01:09he works on Chinese investment into the United States. So I think if that happens,
01:16we can create a win-win situation between the US and China.
01:20So you say a lot of room for cooperation.
01:23How high are the stakes? How much can these tariffs impact the global economy?
01:30Well, I think we are still in an early stage of so-called trade war. We can do a lot to prevent
01:36the trade war to escalate. But if we don't do anything, I'm afraid probably we are going to
01:45go back to the 1930s when every country raised its tariff, but then well, the trade declined by
01:5230 to 40 percent. That would be a disaster for the whole world. So, you know, world leaders
01:59should do everything to prevent the escalation.
02:03And as you see it, what else are the priorities
02:06on the agenda at this year's Munich Security Conference?
02:09Well, of course, the Ukraine war is a big topic here. But to me, I'm an economist.
02:17I'm more worried about, you know, countries' related economic issues solely to national security.
02:26I don't think that's the right direction because, you know, we are still living in an intertwined
02:35world. Economic logic dictates economic relations. I can see people in this conference still have
02:46high hopes for a world with peaceful co-existence and peaceful trade relations.
02:57And how are we seeing China's role evolving when it comes to addressing global economic challenges?
03:03Well, we can see the United States is trying to deal with their own domestic issues.
03:09But for Europeans and also for China, we still value the international system.
03:16You know, China has benefited a lot from the existing world order, like Wang Yi has said
03:25in the conference. So China will do everything to maintain the current world system.
03:36And there is ample room for China and Europe to cooperate on this front.