The Hub with Wang Guan

Throughout 2025, Asia has continued to drive the global economy. China is advancing high-quality development while playing a stabilizing role in international affairs. Following a year of high-level engagement, what lies ahead for China-U.S. relations? Among shifting global currents, how will Asia's growth contribute to shared global prosperity? In a CGTN year-end special, The Hub brings you a 2025 review with Professor Kishore Mahbubani. As a distinguished diplomat, scholar, and author of influential books on Asia and global affairs, he examines the future of major-power relations, explores the global implications of China's development path, and underscores the necessity of cooperation over rivalry.

As the world faces increasing challenges—from global governance and regional security to climate change and food security—international cooperation has never been more important. How can nations work together to build sustainable partnerships that can transcend geopolitical tensions and promote long-term mutual benefits? How can we ensure that global challenges are addressed through collaboration rather than confrontation? We speak with Grzegorz Kolodko, a renowned economist and former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland.

This is a big moment as Hainan, the Free Trade Port in South China, officially launches its special customs arrangements that will allow more goods, services, investments, data, and people to move more freely into the island. This is a major policy move, demonstrating China's resolve to become more open and inclusive in this new era. How will all this work in reality? What will these special customs operations mean for global investors and companies?

Climate change is no longer unfolding in the background — it is now a major driver of the global food crisis. Heatwaves, droughts, floods and widespread crop failures are disrupting harvests and threatening livelihoods of millions of people, particularly in the world's most vulnerable regions. As the United Nations Environment Assembly meets this week at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, one urgent question comes to the forefront: how can countries strengthen resilience and transform their food systems to withstand a rapidly warming planet?

A decade since the Paris Agreement, the impacts of climate change are still haunting humanity, and the clock is ticking. As major economies are steering towards a green and digital transformation, the question is no longer why we must do this, but how we can best do it together. How to collaborate in the race for clean tech innovation? Who will lead the next wave of green growth? Join frontline experts in a special global discussion co-produced by CGTN and Euronews to explore the future of clean technology innovation.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union, a milestone that reflects five decades of growing economic, cultural, and political exchange. How can nations work together to build sustainable partnerships that transcend geopolitical tensions and promote long-term mutual benefits? How can we ensure that global challenges are addressed through collaboration rather than confrontation?

A new article in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents compelling evidence that Chinese researchers are playing an increasingly important role in international science collaboration nowadays, after analyzing nearly six million papers, as well as their continued momentum amid fierce competition with the United States. How should we interpret China's growing influence in global science? What has China done right to reach this point? How can China and the United States, the two largest powers in scientific research, coexist and collaborate to advance global scientific progress?

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call touching on the Taiwan question on Monday. That was followed by President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holding their first phone call since the Japanese PM sparked a major diplomatic fallout with China over her remarks on Taiwan. Beijing has issued a series of strong and coordinated diplomatic responses over Takaichi's refusal to retract her Taiwan remarks, with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warning that Japan has "crossed a red line." How seriously has Japan miscalculated China's red lines? And what do these developments mean for regional stability and world order?

Japan under Sanae Takaichi is flagrantly crossing diplomatic red lines. By claiming that "a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency," she is signaling potential intervention in China's internal affairs — a blatant violation of the One-China principle and the foundation of China-Japan relations. Beijing has responded firmly, while Takaichi remains unwilling to retract her irresponsible remarks. What is Japan really up to? How badly has it misread China's resolve — and what happens next?

This is a turbulent time, with people around the world asking the same question: How should we pursue the better lives we all dream of? How can we solve the problems that are too big for one generation to face? We are joined today by a distinguished panel of leaders and experts—with deep insights into China's development and its global impact—to shed light on these critical issues.