The continued cooperation between China and France across key sectors will help bring stability to the world economy, with multilateralism paving way of for collaboration in new areas, said an expert on European and International studies, during a China Global Television Network (CGTN) program.
Jin Ling, senior research fellow and director of the Department for European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, was invited to the program to share her views on the ongoing state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to France.
Jin believes that it is an important visit for both countries, and the outcomes of the visit are expected to have an impact on the world's future development and security.
"It's a very important visit. This year is the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and France. I think we have heard a lot about the China-France diplomatic relations spirit. That is strategic autonomy, and also win-win cooperation. That is very important at this time as we all see the world is at a critical stage. What [the] two sides decide will, to a large extent, have an impact on the the future of the world's development, peace, and security. So it's important for the visit to enhance the mutual strategic trust, to set the directions for future win-win cooperation, and also to upgrade the levels of the two sides in cooperating in the new areas," she said.
"We have witnessed the so-called unprecedented changes happening nowadays in the world. We have witnessed the wars happening in Europe and also the chaotic situation in the Middle East. And also we have had a lot of uncomfortable [notions], the so-called de-risking strategy. All of these are the new circumstances we are facing. That is why we always advocate for the cooperation between China and France, and China and Europe to be on the spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation. Since we all understand, as long as China and Europe cooperate, the world will never fall into a kind of new cold war. The cooperation of the world economies will be back on the win-win ways instead of so-called de-coupling or de-risking," she continued.
Xi started his state visit to France on Sunday at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. France is Xi's first leg of his three-European country tour, which will also take him to Serbia and Hungary.
China-France cooperation to bring stability to global economy: expert
South Korea' seven million individually-owned businesses are wrestling with survival amid the throes of high inflation and souring costs, which are mainly engaged in catering and retail industries, representing over 20 percent of the country's total employed population.
According to South Korea's Real Estate Research Institute, the store vacancy rate hit a record high of 13.7 percent across the country in the first quarter of this year. Even capital city Seoul's glitzy districts such as Gangnam and Itaewon are filled with empty restaurants and shops.
Ryu Deok-hyun has been running a restaurant for six years in Seoul and won regular customers largely thanks to affordable food prices.
However, the 60-year-old businessman has recent felt the pinch of high inflation. This March, the price of cabbage, an important ingredients in Korean dishes, hiked by 36 percent compared to one year ago. Similarly, chili powder, radish, onion and pork also reported year-on-year price increases between 10 percent and 30 percent, and labor costs, rents and water and electricity bills are also on the rise.
Faced with meager profits, Ryu is still hesitant to raise prices on menu items.
"I'm worried that increasing food prices will lessen customers dining here. But if I don't raise prices, it's hardly profitable. It's really nerve-wracking for me. As of now, I am living on loans. But now the loan interest rate has risen from two percent to six percent, coupled with the huge increase in fixed expenditures, I find it hard to survive it," he said.
Unlike Ryu, many restaurant owners choose to frequently increase menu prices in response to the ever-rising costs, which has resulted in customer decline and business closure. As of now, the cost of dining out has been higher than the overall price increase rate for 35 consecutive months in South Korea, and the closing rate of restaurant businesses stood at 10 percent last year, the highest since 2005.
Most of the small businesses sustaining operation are heavily debt-ridden. Data showed that nearly 60 percent of individually-owned businesses rely on loans to maintain operations, and at the end of this March, the total debt of South Korea's individually-owned businesses came in about 1,112 trillion Korean won (about 821.03 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 51 percent from 2019.
As international oil prices remain at high levels, the Korean won continues to weaken, the trend of rising prices is set to persist and the country's central bank -- Bank of Korea continues to maintain high benchmark interest rates, individually-owned businesses are burdened with loan repayments and are likely to stay financially distressed in the short term.
Industry insiders called for increased efforts to support the small businesses.
"South Korea should flexibly adjust the rate of increase in the minimum hourly wage, and relevant departments should introduce measures to reduce or exempt rental fees of individually-owned businesses," said Cha Nam-soo, the head of the support department at the Korea Federation of Small Businesses and Workers.
S Korean small businesses wrestle with survival in throes of high inflation
