and discussed on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. are insiders to name now. why subscribe to d.w. books or were simply who are in the world we made our character from a. book on to. there's no stopping china while the rest of the world struggles with the fallout from the pandemic china's trade surplus hits a 5 year high i watched as china's a strength mean for the global economy we talked to the president of the european shame but in china about their latest report into the country's decoupling a strategy. also coming up more posed to brics its supply disruptions the supermarkets in britain warning of food shortages in northern ireland. hello

welcome to your business i want to johnson good to have you with us 535000000000 u.s. dollars that's the size of china's trade balance off to exports grew in 2020 lifting its us to a 5 year high that despite the groan of virus pandemic and the trade war with the united states in december exports surged 18 percent on the previous year supply problems elsewhere helped to boost demand for chinese goods china's robust recovery also drive domestic consumption of foreign products with imports also beating expectations. and a report just released by the european chamber in china implies that the asian powerhouse has long managed its into dependence with the world economy in a highly strategic and limited munna what does this mean for foreign companies operating there well that is something i discussed earlier with the president of the european chamber in china and i started by asking him if china was at all

interested in being a team player in the global economy. well they're very interested to be a team player as long as everybody place according to their rules of course i mean the pinto is trying to use this is football you know their view on football is very different from ours we think about continental soccer with referees and they have american football mind is geared pushing for yards so we really need the u.s. and europe to get together and make sure that china is a good team player but according to international rules not once said they won't well until we get to europe and the us together in order to join forces to achieve that what's not currently the main risk for european companies that are based in or having some situation in china on the risk of always of course i mean the average risk is always the competition chinese companies get better you have

a very fast changing can so much it but with the atlanta outline that accompanying story is that the new risk is supply chain it is if the u.s. basically unplugs you on semiconductors as happened to a european car company last month they had to shut down 2 companies in china and to send 10 sells cars produced less there is small items that actually can basically set you back as well as software so when you think you have a great supply chain here the study is supposed to be a wake up call telling people that software is also be going to be a real challenge if the u.s. insists on the u.s. off their china insists on their software and then all of sudden you seem to between and you can produce so in a way this study really is supposed to be showing that don't don't just be complacent all right i mean how about this new european china comprehensive agreement on investment that has just before the last year ended it sort of been

agreed upon does this help. well i mean we had 7 years of negotiations and i'm extremely grateful that this is not done and as it looks like we don't know the entirety of the text it is baby steps but is in the right direction we have very happy that we can do a couple things more that the gap to the american phase one deal is shortened but again in the in the mentees of the things of the decoupling you don't fight an amputation with a band aid so in a way we need much much more activity there investment reinvent is good but it's not going to swing the needle in the big picture i well know that china of course is this huge huge market and everyone he wants to to get pot have a pot of that at the top administration said in the northeast us on a trade war but criticism on china existed way before and it's likely to continue

under the new us president. well that's the unfortunate thing is that it's bipartisan and it's something that is going to drive politicians if you look into the rating of china in europe it went from 5060 percent positive 10 years ago to 78 percent negative as of last year so that gives a lot of food for thought for all politicians to be either tough on china on mr china so china actually has a part in their own hands in order to be actually a culminating less assertive moreas the word but no there is there is enough pushback and i'm really worried about it it looks to me like a slippery slope and in our study we really tried to tell the governments fellows we need an exit ramp we really cannot go on like this primarily of course we mean the chinese government here but it's also meant to be in the us it's not it's a grim picture actually all right the president of the european chamber in china

thank you so much for your time if you. and while the chinese economy is currently going from strength to strength europe is grappling with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic including europe's strongest economy germany just released its full g.d.p. figures for 2020 they came in in line with expectations down 5 percent and that is still less than during the global financial crisis so let's see what our financial market correspondent buson makes of all this good to see you what do the 2020 g.d.p. figures coming out of germany tell us about the economy. well monica there's no denying it germany's economy has plunged into deep recession and today's data confirms how hard hit extremely hard hit the economy was there's basically only one sector of the economy here in germany that managed an increase and that's the building sector the builders of course got

a lot of support from the super low interest rates on mortgages and from a housing market here in germany with high rents and not enough apartments and houses off all other sectors of the economy have been really down because one little aspect i think is worth mentioning because it can be considered positive or at least not totally negative that's today's 5 percent contraction exactly matches the forecasts average of economists have made so the forecast quality of our experts is good and that's not nothing you know it's important for area in particular the financial markets you have to look to the bright side in a grim situation to use the word just used by you know what's good but how are companies holding up in all this is state aid getting to them. no not really in particular one program that was by the government last autumn has met many obstacles you know payments were delayed

a business is didn't really manage to find out why and also there were disputes between the german government and the european union commission which as a result of that our government had to take back some of the promises it had originally made. but of course cost a lot of the support and businesses who applied and the only need that stayed and makes life even harder for the time being on the goes in frankfurt thank you time now for a look at some of the other business stories making news washington will not bought americans from investing in tech giants by do and tencent after all the 3 companies are exempt from a defense department blacklist targeting chinese with ties to the military that's after the treasury department worried over the negative market impact of about. the governing coalition in italy is on the brink of collapse after former prime

minister matteo renzi pulled his party's ministers from the cabinet branches that the government's called $900.00 economic relief plans were in adequate prime minister just at the continental needs to cobble together a majority of face a no confidence vote. sharing platform air b.n. b. is blocking and canceling all the reservations in the washington d.c. metro area during the week of president elect joe biden's inauguration that also includes bookings made through its subsidiary hotel tonight security forces are on high alert after supporters of president trump stormed the u.s. capitol last week. and social media parlor favored platform for right wing voices might not come back into services says its c.e.o. the site has been cut off by major service providers including apple google and amazon they accuse pilar of playing a role in connection with last week's violence and washing out. amid a major logistics subsidiary of deutsche bahn will no longer accept goods for

transport to the united kingdom the company cites significant problems caused by post breaks to dredge tape or the decision adding that only about 10 percent of goods it had been commissions to ship were accompanied with the correct customs documents things aren't running smoothly within the u.k. either the island of britain is no longer part of the european union single market and customs union but northern ireland has a foot in both camps as part of the u.k.'s custom territory while still being aligned with the e.u.'s single market for goods and that complicates things to the point where northern ireland now faces food shortages. these lorries normally return from mainland britain parked with fruit but since brigitte was finalised 2 reeks ago many of them come home with nothing. i've never seen destruction on ari shavit movements on the scale we're seeing i

talk a lot of all or all ears i'm reporting 40 percent of trailers are qualified from g.b.m. that's just something that holy shit could not afraid of it's being felt in supermarkets too i was in tesco out there is lots of that you see elsewhere it was mostly the frozen food as well i was looking for like fish and stuff and i was on there my i was no food despite promises of frictionless trade many products from england scotland and wales no require extra paperwork to cross the irish sea. when working with supermarkets in order to ensure that northern all consumers could have an uninterrupted supply of the products that they used to enjoy he said that it would be some initial disruption were only ruling it out but the situation will get worse before it gets better german freights r.g.b. schenker how suspended shipments to the u.k. after just 10 percent of consignment had to correct paperwork morning sir and in

the netherlands british drivers had their sandwiches confiscated on arrival at the border yeah right then i took off to meet the british know everything will be. local to the regular thorough search all that. hard to stomach but as many in britain are finding out there is no such thing as a free lunch. while some light relief now after so many grim stories is it a comic is it aswell one saying is the sure it's going to be expensively a one of a kind of original tintin artwork is expected to sell for almost 3000000 euros at a paris auction today the comic book artist painted it as the original cover for adventures of tintin and the 5 east the blue notice in 136 of the painting depicts tintin and his while docks. no we inside a porcelain boss facing a red dragon in the end it wasn't used on the book because the publisher found the

4 color reproduction to be too expensive. and that's your business update here on d w you can always find out more on our website of course i d w dot com slash business or you follow us on twitter from in the team and we'll end thanks for keeping us company stay safe. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context around a virus update 19 special. on t w. e coal india. how can a country's economy grow can harmony with its people find it when there are doers

look at the bigger picture india a country that faces many challenges and people are striving to create a sustainable future clever projects from europe and india because. the d.w.p. . finding the pandemic could become a battle against dead. lock downs have halted the flow of cash to workers and companies forcing governments to step in. we need to provide more immediate relief for working families and businesses now now. countries rich and poor of burning through vast amounts of money. but it's all on loan. they're taking on debt like never before and could be setting a dangerous precedent. it'll leave younger generations to foot the bill

and their financial futures already look like. economists argue will have to dig deep to get out of this crisis but the pandemics not the only guilty party the pace of global public debt accumulation has increased by tens of trillions of dollars over the past few years. vast sums of being spent to bail out the ravaged economies hundreds of billions of euros in germany. india following china. and in the united states trillions of. governments have to borrow most of this money but who will pay the debt back. today's elderly for today's young.

much public debt only comes to you decades later that means today's young will carry the can in many countries. if there is already a shortage of jobs and training opportunities higher taxes and spending cuts are quite likely in the future so are today's millennial as the main losers in the coronavirus crisis. if you will. not necessarily they might also stand to benefit if investment is focused on shaping the future. education digitalisation environmental protection. if firms are kept going through the crisis jobs should become available again holders of government bonds should eventually get paid out for days young will inherit public debt but some of them will also inherit government bonds so members of the same generation will be paying each other back for.

if an economy grow strongly repaying debt won't be a huge problem. protracted crisis by contrast would be a disaster. inflation bankruptcies mass unemployment would be much worse for coming generations than inheriting a pile of public debt. laurie passons is british academy post-doctoral research fellow at royal holloway university of london what do you reckon dangerous precedent or a sound way of funding the recover it. well i think you know answering that question they 1st thing that we have to consider is the sinks in between public and private as an individual more is something that often gets conflated in public discourse but nevertheless it's a very important distinction to consider when we think about recovery and debt terms from this crisis now where as an individual who takes out a loan on

a credit card for example has fixed terms of interest in repayment a country which takes out that takes out loans usually in its own currency and this has huge implications for the way in which that debt is repaid for example a currency which takes on debt has influence both directly by the issuing of government bonds and also indirectly that influence so that the central bank which can change interest rates and also the supply of money said a country which takes on debt whatever reasons actually has cost significant amount of control retained over the way in which they repay it and actually this make this possible to take a number of strategies to that repayment and there are some examples quite recently one of the positive things is that the 2008 great recession actually gave us some examples of better and poor practice in that respect right here in the u.k. for example where an example of not doing terribly well because of the huge emphasis on austerity cuts in public service isn't causing about as much debt as possible to quickly which is now generally thought to impeded the recovery from

that 2008 crash so i hope that in the wake of that code 19 crisis we see a different strategy more broadly accepted in mourning which we see a broad. push towards to its growth and widely shared prosperity rather than emphasizing that that in itself is it one that's working in both developed and developing countries. well the important thing to think i think about about the difference between the global know it can go south countries like germany in the u.k. says countries such as india bangladesh cambodia is that in many cases those dead on hand in then national currency so that was a very different spin on things essentially so whereas we want to control the times about that in the in the country in the global south you tend to help hold debt for example in u.s. dollars or one of the available currencies such as pound sterling as a result of that means you don't have that control over the terms by which you

repay that debt now this means that you have to repay it even if it is economically extremely damaging to do so and so this is by no means a new issue is something which has been going on for a very long time and it is likely to be accelerating the very significant way by the debts accrued as a result of the current team crisis just to give you some idea of the extent to which this already goes on just the interest payments alone from banks in new york and london have amounted to around $4.00 trillion in payments from the global south to go no it's not it's already considerably more than the total sum of development aid spending so many ways we have a situation where as a result of debt is the global south developing the global know it's more than the other way around so we'll look at this depends upon what the dollar is doing what the u.s. economy is doing and let's look at the total public debt in the u.s. as a percentage of gross domestic product from the global financial crisis up until this

crisis the graph gets scary how are we going to keep up well how is the u.s. going to keep up. well i mean the u.s. is being the homes of one of the major currencies in the in the world has a huge advantage in that respect it can do a lot to include its ways in which it repays that debt and it's an important of course to consider not only a single graph in which you're looking at debt but also the wider context if you will public health response involves people staying at home if you think that their workplaces are too dangerous and that's going to influence the spreading of the virus in places like that and if you want them to actually stay at home then you simply have to pay them in some respects and that's what's quote been done in different way to european countries but through the same basic idea of the fiscal stimulus checks. in the u.s. so as a result of those necessary provisions which are absolutely essential if you want people to stay home if that is your public health response then we see these huge increases of debt but nevertheless you have to consider the counterfactual web by

all of these businesses and all of those individuals who are unable to have any income on businesses were unable to maintain any of that any of their own going financial commitments and as a result of that when you wake up from the cross' you find yourself essentially emerging into something of an economic wasteland so that's what all of this money has been in the set up so it's essentially an investment now in future prosperity whereby we have the same economic tools and landscaping infrastructure has to rebound to that position that we were in the 2020 and what happens if we don't wake up from this any time soon if we are forced to stay home a lot longer if another pandemic hits right after this one. well i think of course it's a problem that we all hope not to have to face i think however it's important to retain a certain degree of optimism of the future especially in relation to our economic behavior of course the attitudes that we take into this recovery will be hugely important in allowing us to rebound strongly and return to something like the

normality which we knew 2027 optimism i hope towards the latter part of this year will be the order of the day possum's university of london thank you. it's that part of the show where we put your questions to our science correspondent derek williams. what are the chances on a long hole flying out of contract 19 on the plane. i haven't been on a plane for over a year now but i've heard from family and friends and colleagues just how unnerving flying has become especially on long haul flights where people can be cooped up together for for upwards of 15 hours at a time it's become an activity somewhat fraught with uncertainties since since the science we have on transmission in airplanes is still pretty meager that's because you can't run

a tightly controlled experiment involving an infectious possibly deadly pathogen on a long commercial flight instead you have to see whether outbreaks might have originated on one and then extrapolate backwards which is always a tricky business that's what a study from new zealand did with a flight that arrives there from dubai in late september now passengers who fly to new zealand at the moment have to quarantine for 2 weeks on arrival and they're tested for the virus twice during that period 7 out of 86 passengers from the dubai flight tested positive during that quarantine and because most of them had tested negative before takeoff the scientists believed the indicators were very strong that the infection had happened in flight they based their hypothesis on a range of data some of it epidemiologic but also the in-flight seating plan when

the symptoms began and the genome sequences of viruses taken from each of the past . years perhaps the most compelling evidence for me was proximity how close the people who ended up infected sat in relationship to one another on the plane that row of 4 dots by the way was a family and the scientists thought the original transmitter was one of the people represented by a blue dot although in all i found the study very convincing that transmission on a long haul flight can happen but we still don't know how rarely or or how often it happens or or what factors exactly might contribute to it. before we go the economic impact of the pandemic is leaving some poor communities with no choice but to resort to using natural resources to meet their daily needs

that includes destroying the habitats of these guys the w w f conservation group has issued a global deforestation warning it says madagascar is hard hit almost all species of leave out face extinction small primates native to the island let's hope that tourists back in soon to support the sector and stop locals from chopping down trees.

in the. cold no water. 10. rescue has been living here for months under inhumane conditions the situation for refugees in bosnia is escalating local authorities refused to take any responsibility while he looks out for. and many others await for help. focus on europe. 30 minutes on d w. into the conflict zone terms of. how strong is

democracy in the us my guest is free from germany is going to it could sound gave who see you posted the us is guilty in the photo column and why the big gap between his rhetoric about the right solution. to in parts of the new conflict zone. 90 minutes of. massive drama competition drive marketing numbers atmosphere power fight at sap intuition love hate money. fans primes fans stance and fans. to go off on you tube join us. with him how to be done

it goes on as well the highest if i had known that the boat would be that small i never would have gone on a trip with you i would not have put myself and my parents on a lot of dangerous part of the game with the going to get a flavor would. love once uncle deposit money would come to give them i had serious problems on a personal level and i was unable to live there but that much i'm going to. want to know their story in full migrates terrified to enter my will information for more grants.

the bad. news live from bergland the us president donald trump is officially impeached again congress charging him with inciting supporters to attack the capitol building last week calling it an armed rebellion against the country trump is now the only u.s. president to be impeached twice. also coming up voters in uganda begin voting in parliamentary and presidential election after a campaign marked by widespread violence veteran presidential wary who said.