People In the Know

The Yangtze River, the world's third longest river, traverses China's eastern,

central and western regions, joining the coast with inland areas and providing

rich resources to people along its length.In 2014, Premier Li Keqiang

advocated the building of an economic belt along the Yangtze River to underpin

China's sustainable economic development, saying that it can provide huge new

development stimuli for more than a fifth of the country's land and about 600

million people.The plan's top priority is the protection of the

ecological environment, since unprecedented economic growth, combined with the

expansion of industries and rapid urbanization, has put a severe strain on the

river.So how difficult is it for provinces with differing development

levels to cooperate under the plan? And what are the environmental challenges

facing the region?For more, I had the chance to speak with Mr. Lei Gang, Senior Director of WWF China, Living Yangtze River

Program, and Professor Zhu Ying, Director of the Australian Centre for Asian

Business, at the University of South Australia Business

School.

The fourth summit of leaders from China and Central and Eastern European countries has just concluded in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou.Leaders from China and 16 CEE countries have discussed ways of further enhancing connectivity and advancing production capacity cooperation.The two sides have also identified several priority areas for collaboration over the next 5 years, ranging from infrastructure to finance and agriculture.On the sidelines of the summit, China has signed separate deals with Hungary and Serbia on the construction and revamping of a rail link between Belgrade and Budapest.Premier Li Keqiang, who attended the summit, has proposed the establishment of a '16+1' multilateral financial firm to promote projects under the principle of commercialization.So why are we seeing much closer ties between China and the CEE countries now? What are the prospects for co-operation between the two sides?For more, we are joined by Feng Zhongping, Vice President of China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Terrill Frantz, Prof. from Peking University HSBC Business School, and Victor Gao, Chairman of China Energy Security Institute.