Peter Lewis: Asia Business Correspondent on China's commitment to the Pacific's fight against climate change, the US' plans to revoke Chinese students' visas and tariffs

China’s offering the Pacific Island’s increased support.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has committed economic support in the Pacific’s fight against climate change.

He says over the next three years, China will undertake 100 projects in parts of the region that have ties to China.

Asia Business Correspondent Peter Lewis talks to Heather du Plessis-Allan about the commitment.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now. Peter lewis Asia Business correspondent with US.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hey, Peter, good evening header.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Okay, so the US wants to now aggressively revoke does
it the visas of the Chinese students?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
That's right. This is what Marco Rubio, the Secretary of
the State is saying. It affects a lot of people.
There's about two hundred and eighty thousand Chinese students in
the US in the last academic year, makes up about
a quarter of all foreign students there, and it's the
second leading country of origin after India. What is quite

(00:32):
extraordinary about this sort of memo that's come from the
State Department is that it's so blatantly anti China. I mean,
if the thing had been fairly neutral in the sense that, look,
you know, we want to not have so many students
for whatever reason coming into the US, that would have
been maybe fine. But it specifically singles out applications from

(00:55):
China and Hong Kong says it sees a lot of
these students as in for trading the US with bad ideas.
They could potentially be spies or national security risks. It
really is very focused on some very negative perceptions about China,
and it's going to have a big impact. I mean
this is you know, US universities are one of the

(01:18):
ways in which US projects its soft power around the world.
They're a big attraction for students all over the world,
help spread US ideas and policies around the world as well.
And it has economic impacts because many of these foreign
students that go to go to the US graduate, stay on,

(01:41):
they become entrepreneurs. They drive innovation and economic leadership, and
if the US was to lose that, I think it
would be detrimental to the US economy. I mean, look
at companies like alphabet for example, the owner of Google,
they have an Indian CEO. There are many companies that
are there set up and driven by some of these

(02:03):
students who eventually go on and become entrepreneurs.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Speaking of India, how is this going between India and
the US on the trade negotiations.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, it seems to be a little bit stored. I mean,
there's been all sorts of talk about neuendrum mody trying
to reduce tariffs to get some sort of agreement, but
there are certain areas that are very, very sensitive that
they just can't remove the levies from and these are
things like agricultural commodities like food grains, dairy products and

(02:37):
so on, and it would just be politically impossible for
Mody to lower the tariffs on them. So they want
to try and ring fence certain sectors and then try
and maybe reduce tariffs on other areas. Now I'm afraid
this is bad news for New Zealand because I know
you'd like to have a trade deal withind you as well.
But I think if they're not going to offer this

(02:59):
to the US, I can't see them offering it to
New Zealand either.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
No, that's a really that is absolutely a fair point
I think that you make there. Now, look what is
going on. Is there something that's changing about the way
that China is approaching the Pacific Islands or is it
just ongoing support that they're offering here.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, I think they see an opportunity. They see the
US as stepping away from a leadership role in all
sorts of places around the world and also damaging its
reputation in all sorts of places around the world. Is
not being seen anymore as a reliable trade partner, for sure,

(03:35):
and it's not even being seen as reliable in various
security issues by countries all over the world, both big
and small. So China sees an opportunity here to really
sort of step into the breach and put itself forward
as being the reliable partner, the one that you can
come to to do trade without any you know, without

(03:58):
any sort of tags on it. I mean, one ye,
who's the Foreign Minister of China. We're saying with the
Pacific Island countries they're going to undertake one hundred small
but beautiful projects across the Pacific. These are things like
addressing climate change, providing money for infrastructure initiatives, clean energy, fisheries,

(04:20):
and so on. And I think they do see an
opportunity here. You remember a couple of years ago they
did try to get a security agreement with a couple
of the Pacific Island countries, but that sort of fell
apart at the last minute. So here they are again
looking to boost their influence with those nations and using
programs like the Belton Road Initiative to try and do that.

(04:43):
And I think the Pacific Islands countries are interested as
well in having a closer relationship with China.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
You can see why. Hey, thank you very much, Peter
appreciate it. We'll talk to you again next week and
enjoy your weekend. That's Peter Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
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