World Insight with Tian Wei

The United States marked its 250th anniversary this year. The changes taking place in the US and their implications for that country and the rest of the world is significant. On that and more, Tian Wei spoke with Thomas Fingar, a professor at Stanford University, on the sideline of the World Peace Forum. America is looking back at this past and ahead to its role in the changing world. One of the most important questions is how it manages its relationship with China. Howard Kennedy School Professor Graham Allison shared his perspectives saying that the two countries have been trying to reform and reshape their relationship.

The United States celebrates 250 years of independence on Saturday. Two and a half centuries ago, the early settlers of this land broke free from the yoke of colonial rule. In the centuries that followed, waves of people of the globe arrived on these shores, their lives intertwining, their cultures colliding and ultimately fusing together on this vast new continent. Adam Tooze is a leading British historian currently teaching at Columbia University's History Department in the US. As a non-American living in the country, viewed from an international and historical vantage point, what does he make of America's 250-year history and its present-day reality?

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Earlier, a joint statement marked the official launch of the China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism as both sides convened for the inaugural meeting. China-EU academic and trade cooperation continues to generate mutual benefits. For many European companies operating in China, close collaboration translates into significant investment in innovation. Our guests highlight how China has become a major hub for global innovation, and why long term cooperation with China is a rewarding strategy.

The Al+ Initiative is China's national action plan to drive Al into every corner of the economy. Few have witnessed this journey as closely as Feng Junlan. As the chief scientist of China Mobile, she has been working on large language models for more than 10 years. She believes Al should not be a magic box. It must be trustworthy, controllable and safe. Al building itself is a plain way to explain the phrase "recursive self-improvement," which is a process in which early artificial general intelligence, or AGI systems, rewrite their own computer code which might lead to, theoretically speaking, super intelligence. On that and more, Tian Wei spoke to computer scientist Mingcheng Zhuge, whose research focuses primarily on coding agents, recursive self-improvement, and neural computers.

Innovation-driven development is the key to China's long term economic resilience and steady growth. From Al to green energy, home-grown breakthroughs are reshaping industries and opening more possibilities. As Harvard University Professor Graham Allison notes, these Chinese innovation efforts will be translated into products that can benefit people and redefine global competition. China's pharmaceutical-biotech sector is poised for sustained growth driven by policy support, corporate R&D and talent dividends. As Eric Tse puts it, China's innovation is not just for China, it translates into global innovation that benefits the world.

APEC trade ministers have issued a joint statement upon conclusion of their meeting in Suzhou. Will it open a golden era for the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific?

Innovation-driven development is the key to China's long term economic resilience and steady growth. On the sidelines of the Summer Davos forum, Tian Wei sat down with Professor Graham Allison from Harvard University to talk about China's innovation and also China-US relations. China's pharmaceutical biotech sector is poised for sustained growth driven by policy support, corporate R&D and talent dividends. Tian Wei spoke with Eric Tse, CEO of Sino Biopharmaceutical.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday delivered a special address at the opening plenary of the Summer Davos. He said China's innovation is earned through years of strengthening its capabilities and relentless hard work. It has also been driven by widespread application across industries and cultivated through a robust ecosystem. The premier also said China opportunity 2.0 represents comprehensive innovation-driven empowerment and high return investment prospect.

The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as Summer Davos, opens this week in Dalian, China. Its goal: to answer one question - how the world closes the gap between technological breakthrough and broad economic benefit. In my exclusive interview with WEF President Alois Zwinggi, he suggests scaling innovation is the key for good quality growth. This month, China unveiled an extensive array of financial opening-up policies. In an exclusive interview, Giovanni Tria, the former Italian minister of economy and finance, explains why China's push for RMB assets is the key to a more stable global financial system.

The APEC economic leaders' meeting this year is to take place in November in Shenzhen. Over the weekend in Beijing, the APEC China CEO forum was held focusing on openness, connectivity and coordination. AI built itself. What does it mean for human beings? Those questions are being frequently asked today as Al is moving to the center stage of economies and society. I talked to a computer scientist on the sidelines of the BAAI conference, one of the leading forums in China bringing key Al stakeholders together.

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs announced that the talks between the United States and Iran scheduled for Friday in Burgenstock have been cancelled. The mountain resort in Switzerland had been designated as the venue for initial negotiations between the two countries on the implementation of their agreement. Earlier this week, Iran and the US announced the finalization of the memorandum of understanding to end the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. Despite the official signing of the US-Iran agreement, Israel continues its strikes on southern Lebanon. What caused the scheduled talks to stall? What does this reversal mean for all parties involved? And in what areas can Iran and the US still engage in further detailed negotiations in the future?

China concludes its presidency of the United Nations Security Council. From addressing the climate crisis to fostering peace and sustainable development, China's proposals are increasingly shaping the blueprint for international cooperation. In an exclusive interview, Stephen Jackson, the UN resident coordinator in China, shares his profound insights on the deepening ties between the UN and China and how Chinese wisdom is translating into actionable solutions for today's most depressing global challenges.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping our world today from society to individual life, but who laid the groundwork for this digital world? Doctor Whitfield Diffie is the man to ask. As a world-renowned Touring Award recipient and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, he is widely regarded as the founding father of modern digital security. His pioneering work on public key cryptography remains the bedrock of the global digital economy today. I did catch up with him at the recent Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence Conference. We talked about the evolving relationship between Al and humanity, and whether governance can keep pace with rapid tech changes.

France hosts this year's G7 summit starting Monday. Reducing global imbalances is a top priority. Many suggest this summit comes at a critical time. Global governance faces strain on multiple fronts while the transatlantic rift on trade and defense deepens. At the same time, middle powers are winning growing influence in global affairs. With the G20 and APEC still ahead, this summit offers a glimpse into whether the traditional Western alignment still works. Many more are also asking if the G20 could really turn its theme into action.

A low-budget film with no star actors or fancy effects is winning hearts across China. Dear You follows a grandson's journey to Thailand, uncovering a decades-old story of family devotion.

The world today is changing rapidly with technology development driven by basic science. China, as the second largest economy, put a lot of effort on basic science research. In 2025, China's total R&D investment exceeded 3.92 trillion yuan, about 569 billion US dollars, reaching 2.8% of GDP. Basic research funding last year hit nearly 280 billion yuan, accounting for 7.08% of the total R&D spending. More and more young talents from China and abroad are devoting themselves to basic science and their cause will eventually contribute to the development of humanity.

The World Conference of Classics 2026 is held in Athens, Greece this week under the theme "Dialogue Between Ancient and Modern: Contemporary Inspiration from Classical Wisdom." The term of classic studies is a relatively new academic subject in China and there are debates on its definition. Roger Ames is one of the most well-known American scholars on Chinese classics. I sat down with him at the Hall of Fame of Chinese Philosophers in Peking University in Beijing before he leaves for the World Conference of Classics.

General Secretary Xi Jinping of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also the Chinese president, is paying a state visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from June 8th to 9th at the invitation of Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK. The visit marks his first overseas trip this year and his first state visit to the DPRK in seven years.

World Environment Day this year focuses on climate change, with an eye on the Earth's alarming distress signals - rising seas, raging wildfires, heatwaves and melting glaciers. That's why China has been actively pushing for a greener world. It has contributed roughly 25 percent of the world's green renewal in recent years. Efforts to push back encroaching barren deserts, including the Mu Us Desert, one of the four major sandy lands in China, resonate with people, including those between China and the US. In 1999, Ronald Sakolsky, an American middle school exchange teacher in central China's Henan Province, raised 5-thousand dollars to help a Chinese couple plant more tree saplings in China's Mu Us Desert. Today, that gift has grown into more than 50,000 thriving trees across the desert. We talked to the American teacher who, together with his Chinese friends across the Pacific, made an unforgettable story of kinship and respect.

When the world talks about science and technology, competition tends to dominate the conversation sometimes. But spend some time with the scientists, and you will hear something very different. For most of them, the work has always been about collaboration, pushing forward humanity's understanding of the universe and beyond. I've had the privilege of sitting down with some of the brightest minds in science.

Not long ago, the tech world was shocked with what is now widely known as the DeepSeek moment and open source turning point that shattered the myth of tech titan monopoly toward a democratization of global Al. Since that milestone, rapid Al development has been on two distinct, powerful tracks. The US is quite keen on speeding up the AGI breakthroughs while China has shifted to the Al+ wave with massive applications across diverse industries. This has sparked new frontier applications. A prime example is Nvidia's recent partnership with China's Unitree Robotics to co-develop cutting edge embodied robot, proving the rising fusion of hardware with software.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on the international community to rally support for the United Nations Charter amid geopolitical and economic uncertainties. Wang made the remarks while presiding over a Top UN Security Council meeting on strengthening the UN-centered international system. Participants agree that the trend of multi-polarization is unstoppable. Wang also spelled out China's key role in upholding multilateralism as a steady defender of the UN unfair global governance.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng has met with Germany's economy and energy minister and German business delegates. At the same time, the EU plans to broaden import quotas and tariffs targeting Chinese goods. China's potential is reflected in both industrial competition and cooperation.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry has announced outcomes from China-US economic and trade consultations. These include the establishment of a trade council and an investment council, as well as tariff reductions on certain products. The president of the US-China Business Council shares his perspective on interactions between the two heads of state, the future of tariffs and export controls, and why business communities remain one of the strongest bridges between the two countries.

Since Iran and the United States reached a ceasefire on April 8, diplomatic efforts have focused on easing tensions in the Middle East. In recent phone calls with Egyptian, Turkish, Qatari, and Omani leaders, the Iranian president said Iran is ready to work toward an "honorable framework" to end the conflict with the United States and Israel. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said China is willing to play a constructive role in achieving a political and diplomatic settlement. The developments raise questions about how the evolving situation in the Middle East could affect geopolitics and the global economy.

In 1999, Ronald Sakolsky, an American middle school exchange teacher in the city of Luoyang, saw a TV report about Yin Yuzhen's fight against desertification in the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia, China. Moved by her story, Sakolsky raised 5,000 US dollars to help Yin and her husband. Today, that support has grown into more than 50,000 trees across the desert. Filled with gratitude and pride over what had been achieved, Yin spent years searching for her American friend. In May, Yin and Sakolsky finally reunited over the phone, reminiscing about their friendship from two decades earlier.

Kevin Warsh has been sworn in as the new chair of the US Federal Reserve, succeeding Jerome Powell. The US president selected Warsh with an eye on lowering key interest rates to support economic growth. However, that goal may prove challenging amid rising fuel prices, inflation pressures, and ongoing tensions with Iran. The key question is how US monetary policy will be managed to maintain stability not only for the domestic economy but also for global markets. What changes could now be expected at the Federal Reserve?

China's emphasis on developing new quality productive forces has deepened its cooperation with the rest of the world. Driven by innovation and China's continued opening‑up policy, trade between China and global economies is undergoing rapid transformation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded his state visit to China, with bilateral ties producing a host of achievements. Beyond high-level politics, deep cultural and people-to-people exchanges have always been the bedrock of China-Russia relations.

Analysts share insights on the significance of the Russian president’s latest visit to China for bilateral cooperation and how it will impact the global landscape.

Renowned Russian conductor Maestro Valery Gergiev shares insights on cultural and people-to-people exchanges between Russia and China. In his view, music transcends all borders, and the world today needs to become like an orchestra—where everyone comes together to truly hear one another.

US President Donald Trump has wrapped up his China visit, with the two heads of state agreeing to build a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi calls the meeting historic, noting it charts the course for bilateral ties. A former Chinese ambassador to the United States shares insights on issues such as the landmark meeting between the two presidents, the new vision of bilateral ties, and the importance of the one-China principle.

At the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States this autumn. Meanwhile, President Trump has just concluded his state visit to China. Both sides have agreed to foster a constructive China‑U.S. relationship featuring strategic stability. How will this consensus be translated into concrete actions?

US President Donald Trump is on a state visit to China until Friday. On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump held in-depth discussions on bilateral relations, as well as global peace and development. The two leaders later toured Beijing's iconic Temple of Heaven. In the evening, they attended a state banquet. A scholar has offered insights into the latest outcomes of the talks, highlighting a new vision for China–US relations, closer coordination on AI governance, greater predictability for the business community, and expanded people-to-people exchanges.

China and the United States are global leaders in artificial intelligence, one of the most transformative cutting-edge technologies. Can the two countries reach a more cooperative approach to AI development? Could the upcoming meeting between the two presidents address critical AI governance?

As the world's two largest economies, whether China and the United States choose to collaborate or compete has far-reaching implications, from global financial stability to the future of climate change. Our experts help us navigate the complex dynamics shaping this relationship.

The Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers have held talks in Beijing. The Iranian official briefed the Chinese side on the latest Iran-U.S. negotiations and Tehran's possible next steps, insisting the political crisis cannot be resolved through military means. The Chinese foreign minister outlined China's principled stance and four-point proposal for stability. He brought up global calls to restore safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. How aligned are China's four points with Iran's immediate diplomatic goals? Is Iran ready to fully embrace this roadmap for de-escalation?

Dede Nickerson, a witness to and participant in China’s contemporary film scene, reflects on decades of change in Chinese cinema and moments that have surprised, inspired and connected people across cultures.

Schwarzman Scholars from more than 100 countries and regions have recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the program. The project is designed to cultivate global leaders of the future amid rapid geopolitical changes. Scholars spend one year in China in a master's program, not only in the classroom, but also traveling to very different parts of China. What started as an experiment has stood the test of time and demonstrated how universities are using new methods to develop talent in a world that demands leaders who understand global issues.

In this special episode, we talk about how sport exchanges between China and the United States have impacted people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

China's office responsible for foreign investment security review has issued a decision to prohibit foreign investment in the Manus acquisition project and it has ordered the parties involved to revoke the acquisition deal. What are the reasons behind the decision? How will it impact the cooperation and competition between China and the United States?

The Trump administration seeks a 1.5-trillion-dollar defense budget for 2027. That's a 44-percent rise in Pentagon spending, the largest such request in decades. It reflects the U.S. government's military investment priority over domestic programs, even before the U.S.-led war against Iran. How worrisome is a sharp rise in U.S. defense spending? As new drone, missile and artificial intelligence technologies change modern warfare, what can 1.5 trillion dollars buy in military hardware? How does a way higher U.S. military budget affect the global security architecture?

As the world undergoes unprecedented changes, there is growing emphasis on cultivating future global leaders. Stephen A. Schwarzman, founding trustee of Schwarzman Scholars, highlights this mission as the program marks its 10th anniversary. The initiative aims to prepare leaders with a strong understanding of China's role in the global economy and international affairs.

In this episode, we spoke with students and teachers at Tianjin Juilliard School.

As tensions in the Middle East persist, the humanitarian situation has worsened, particularly in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. Among the most vulnerable are children, who are facing displacement, disrupted education, and limited access to basic necessities. A senior UNICEF official explains the need to advocate for the protection of children’s rights and to help meet their basic needs, especially in dire situations.

Against the backdrop of Middle East tensions, the Norwegian minister of international development calls for a ceasefire and urges everyone to follow international law. He discusses issues such as the need to face a new reality of war, conflict, and the climate crisis with partners like China, the importance of following international law amid Middle East conflicts, and efforts to reach out to partners in the Gulf region.

The Strait of Hormuz remains gripped by tensions, as Tehran denounces American threats and the seizure of an Iranian cargo ship. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reports that Iran has not sent a delegation to the talks with the United States. That heightens uncertainties before a shaky pause on Iran-U.S. hostilities ends on Wednesday. Does the Iran-U.S. deadline still matter? Do they even care about it? Analysts from Iran, the U.S., Pakistan and China share their perspectives on the evolving situation.

France's National Assembly has opened a door that has been closed for more than a century. A joint committee will work to align the positions of senators and deputies on a bill concerning cultural artifacts. The legislation aims to promote the return of looted colonial-era cultural artifacts and artworks, particularly those taken between 1815 and 1972. The move raises the question of whether it could trigger a broader shift across Europe.

Artificial intelligence has been pushing the envelope in how movies are being made. AI tools have proven to be a huge help from writing screenplays, unique special effects to the cutting room. China is definitely surfing on this cutting-edge wave of film-making. We had a discussion with a panel of movie industry insiders.

It all started with a few ping-pong matches 55 years ago. Today, that small breakthrough has grown into wide-ranging people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. Some participants in the historic event are now sharing their personal stories and the connections behind them.